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I  f 

FEFU    US'     HISTORICAL     SERIES,     No.     21. 


v  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 

f 

C32        °F 
H 

JOHN  DEAN  CATON 


•y 


Ex-Chife-Justice  of  Illinois. 


By    ROBERT    FERGUS. 


CHICAGO: 

FERGUS    PRINTING    COMPANY. 
1882. 


^ 


JOHN  DEAN  CATON. 


The  career  of  Ex-Chief-Justice  Caton,  of  Illinois,  has 
been  signalized  by  arduous  labors  and  by  deserved  success. 
If  die  details  of  his  life  could  be  laid  before  the  world,  they 
would  afford  a  record  to  be  commended  to  every  young 
man  who  is  struggling  with  adversity,  and  is  desirous  of 
creating  for  himself  an  honorable  name.  At  the  age  of 
fifty-two,  he  voluntarily  resigned  the  highest  judicial  posi- 
tion in  the  State,  at  a  time  when  his  mind  was  capable  of 
putting  forth  its  most  vigorous  manifestations,  and  when 
his  physical  powers  were  unimpaired.  He  has  stamped 
the  impress  of  his  mind  upon  the  jurisprudence  of  the 
State;  and  in  the  volumes  of  the  Reports  which  contain 
his  decisions,  there  is  not  a  page  which  his  warmest  friends 
would  seek  to  blot,  not  a  sentence  which  betrays  the  spirit 
of  the  partisan  judge.  No  man  ever  illustrated  more  ad- 
mirably the  precept — - 

"Justum  et  tenacem  propositi  virum;" 

no  man  ever  held  the  scales  of  justice  with  a  steadier  equi- 
poise. 

John  Dean  Caton  was  born  on  the  19th  of  March,  181 2, 
in  the  town  of  Monroe,  Orange  County,  New  York.  His 
father's  name  was  Robert  Caton,  whose  immediate  ances- 
tor, of  the  same  name,  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  emigrated 
to  Maryland  before  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  ultimately 
settled  in  Virginia,  and  became  possessed  of  a  plantation 
on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  where  the  father  of  the  sub- 
ject of  our  memoir  was  born,  March  22,  1761. 

Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Rob- 
ert Caton,  the  son,  and  his  brother  John,  ran  away  from 
the  paternal  roof  and  joined  the  American  army,  then  en- 
camped before  Boston,  and  remained  with  it  until,  on  the 
declaration  of  peace,  it  was  disbanded.  The  two  brothers 
then  took  up  their  residence  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Hudson 


4  HON.   JOHN   DEAN    CATON. 

River,  Orange  County,  New  York,  where  the  father  ot 
Judge  Caton  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Robert  Caton  was  married  three  times,  his  last  wife 
being  Hannah  Dean,  and  the  issue  of  this  marriage  was 
four  children — two  daughters  and  two  sons — the  elder  of 
whom  is  the  subject  of  this  notice.  At  four  years  of  age, 
young  Caton  left  the  place  of  his  birth,  which  he  did  not 
again  revisit  until  after  the  lapse  of  twenty  years.  This 
change  in  his  circumstances  was  brought  about  by  the  death 
of  his  father,  when  his  mother,  with  four  orphan  children, 
removed  near  Brothertown,  in  what  was  then  the  town  of 
Paris,  in  Oneida  County,  New  York.  Here  she  rented  part 
of  a  house,  with  about  an  acre  of  land  attached,  of  her 
brother.  Her  straightened  circumstances  required  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  strictest  economy;  and  every  member  of  the 
family,  so  soon  as  able,  was  required  to  contribute  to  make 
the  little  patrimony  self-supporting.  Here  Caton's  boyhood 
was  passed,  and  here  in  the  district-school  his  mind  re- 
ceived the  first  rudiments  of  knowledge.  He  was  kept 
pretty  constantly  in  attendance  upon  this  school  until  he 
was  nine  years  old;  but  he  confessed  that,  from  his  disin- 
clination to  study,  this  became  a  difficult  task. 

Mrs.  Caton,  as  well  as  her  husband,  belonged  to  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends;  and  among  the  visitors  to  her  humble 
abode  was  Solomon  Bass,  who  resided  at  Smyrna,  Che- 
nango County.  Attracted  by  the  appearance  of  the  boy, 
or  wishing  to  relieve  the  mother  of  a  portion  of  her  burden, 
he  persuaded  her  to  let  the  lad  accompany  him  home, 
promising  to  bring  him  up  as  a  farmer.  This  was  in 
March,  1821. 

Friend  Solomon's  farm  was  anything  but  an  earthly  para- 
dise. It  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  hills,  covered  with 
gloomy  forests,  in  which  a  small  clearing  had  been  made 
and  a  rude  cabin  erected.  The  boy  found  ample  occupa- 
tion in  bringing  water  to  the  house  from  a  neighboring 
stream,  in  driving  cattle  up  the  hill-sides  to  enable  them  to 
browse,  in  cutting  fire-wood,  and  in  tending  the  fires  of  the 
sugar-camp,  where  the  sap  of  the  maple  was  gathered  and 
evaporated.  So  onerous  were  the  tasks  imposed  upon  him 
by  Friend  Solomon,  in  carrying  pails,  that  to  this  day  the 
man  cannot  straighten  the  muscles  of  his  fingers;  and  so 
great  the  exposure  to  which  he  was  subjected,  that  his  feet 
became  frosted  and  the  flesh  in  places  came  off.     When- 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  5 

ever  the  Judge  refers  to  this  episode  in  his  life,  it  is  with  a 
feeling  of  shuddering. 

At  the  end  of  nine  weeks  the  boy  was  returned,  with 
frosted  feet  and  crushed  spirits,  to  the  maternal  roof,  where 
he  once  more  received  that  love  and  kindness  which  a 
mother  only  can  bestow.  In  the  spring  of  1823,  he  "hired 
out"  to  a  Mr.  Saxton  as  a  farm-hand,  at  three  dollars  a 
month;  but  this  engagement  abruptly  terminated,  for  the 
boy  being  directed  to  harrow  the  greensward  in  a  certain 
field,  which  consisted  of  part  meadow  and  part  sod-land 
ploughed  or  broken  up  the  previous  fall,  effectually  tore  up 
the  meadow,  much  to  the  indignation  of  the  proprietor. 
The  result,  however,  was  that  he  mowed  a  larger  crop  of 
hay  than  he  had  been  able  to  obtain  for  many  years  pre- 
viously; but  Mr.  S.  concluded  that  he  could  dispense  with 
his  further  services.  Thus  time  passed  on,  the  lad  working 
alternately  for  the  neighboring  farmers  and  attending  the 
district-school,  until  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  fifteen;  when 
his  mother,  in  obedience  to  the  provisions  of  their  father's 
will — by  which  it  was  required  that  the  two  boys,  on  arriv- 
ing at  a  suitable  age,  should  be  put  out  to  learn  a  trade — 
apprenticed  John  to  Job  Collins,  a  saddler  and  harness- 
maker,  residing  at  Smyrna,  a  place  by  no  means  associated 
in  the  mind  of  the  lad  with  agreeable  recollections.  The 
boy  proved  an  apt  apprentice;  and  studying  the  philosophy 
of  a  harness  and  the  strain  which  the  several  parts  are 
required  to  endure,  he  suggested  many  changes  which  his 
master  was  not  Joath  to  adopt. 

But  young  Caton  had  an  ambition  that  his  life  had 
higher  aims  than  to  become  a  "horse-tailor,"  and  without 
determining  what  his  future  course  should  be,  he  resolved 
to  terminate  his  engagement  with  Job — honorable  if  he 
could,  but  at  all  events  to  terminate  it;  and  an  accident, 
as  it  were,  enabled  him  to  accomplish  his  resolution.  He 
was  seized  with  a  severe  cold,  which  culminated  in  an  in- 
flammation of  the  eyes;  but  for  some  inexplicable  reason, 
after  the  inflammation  had  subsided,  his  eye-sight  was  left 
so  impaired  that  he  spoiled  nearly  every  job  he  undertook; 
and  when  Job  saw  no  hopes  of  an  amendment,  he  rather 
urged  the  departure  of  his  apprentice,  and  kindly  suggested 
that,  as  his  physical  powers  were  unimpaired,  he  might  suc- 
ceed in  some  occupation  requiring  muscle  but  not  clear 
eye  sight — say  the  occupation  of  a  butclier.      Transferred 


6  HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON. 

once  more  to  his  home,  as  if  by  a  miracle  his  sight  re- 
turned; and  from  that  time  to  the  present  hour,  the  Judge 
has  never  suffered  from  weak  eyes.  He  found  that  his 
mother  had  already  resolved  to  remove  to  Utica  and  there 
open  a  boarding-house;  and  he  lent  her  all  the  aid  in  his 
power  in  effecting  the  removal,  while  he  remained  in  the 
region  working  for  a  Mr.  White.  That  fall  he  took  a  de- 
cided step  toward  personal  independence.  Having  hired 
the  horses  and  wagon  of  his  employer,  he  became  a  com- 
mon carrier,  transporting  highwines  between  Waterville  and 
Utica;  but  ere  long  he  formed  a  connection  with  a  Mr. 
Green,  to  peddle  his  wooden  wares  through  the  adjoining 
counties. 

In  1829,  however,  he  joined  his  mother  at  Utica.  He 
entered  the  academy  there,  and  for  the  first  time  applied 
himself  resolutely  to  study,  commencing  with  English  gram- 
mar, arithmetic,  and  surveying.  Here  he  remained  nine 
months,  when  he  had  become  so  far  a  proficient  in  survey- 
ing that  by  odd  jobs  he  was  enabled  to  add  to  his  scanty 
funds.  His  preceptor  regarded  him  as  qualified  to  teach ; 
and  accordingly  young  Caton  proceeded  to  Ovid,  near  the 
residence  of  his  uncle,  where  he  succeeded  in  securing  the 
charge  of  a  district-school.  Gathering  up  his  earnings  for 
the  winter,  which  netted  him  about  thirty  dollars,  he  re- 
turned to  the  scenes  of  his  childhood,  where  he  again 
"hired  out"  on  a  farm;  but  having  the  misfortune  to  cut 
his  foot,  in  the  fall  he  proceeded  to  Rome  and  became  a 
pupil  of  Mr.  Grosvenor,  where  he  first  enterfd  upon  a  clas- 
sical course  of  study.  That  winter  he  was  again  occupied 
in  teaching,  and  in  the  spring,  resumed  his  connection  with 
Mr.  Grosvenor. 

Thus,  then,  with  these  slender  means  of  education,  he 
took  the  next  step  toward  the  active  duties  of  life.  In 
December,  he  entered  himself  in  the  office  of  Beardsley 
and  Mattison,  as  a  student  at  law,  and  was  enabled  to  add 
to  his  scanty  fund,  by  practicing  before  Justices  of  the 
Peace;  and  subsequently  he  entered  the  office  of  James  H. 
Collins,  Esq.,  who  allowed  him  a  compensation  for  office- 
work.  • 

Having  acquired  the  rudiments  of  law  so  far  as  to  enable 
him  to  enter  on  its  practice,  young  Caton  set  his  face  West- 
ward, and  arrived  at  Chicago  in  June  19,  1833.  With  the 
exception  of  Judge  Spring,  who  had  preceded  him  a  few 


HON.   JOHN   DEAN   CATON.  7 

weeks,  he  was  the  first  lawyer  to  hang  out  his  "shingle"  in 
that  city,  where  now  the  members  of  that  profession  are  to 
be  counted  by  the  thousands.  He  brought  the  first  suit 
•ever  instituted  in  the  Circuit  Court  at  that  place.  In  the 
fall  of  that  year,  he  obtained  his  license  to  practise,  from 
Judges  Lockwood  and  Smith,  making  a  long  journey  to 
Greenville,  Bond  County,  for  that  purpose. 

In  July,  1835,  ne  married  Miss  Laura  A.,  daughter  o. 
Jacob  Sherrill,  Esq.,  of  New  Hartford,  Oneida  County, 
New  York. 

In  1836,  the  first  house  was  erected  by  him  on  the 
•"school  section,"  west  of  the  Chicago  River. 

Judge  Caton  had  inherited  from  his  parents  a  sound  con- 
stitution and  more  than  ordinary  physical  powers,  and  he 
was  thus  enabled  to  endure  without  exhaustion  an  almost 
unlimited  amouftt  of  physical  or  intellectual  exertion;  but 
by  an  unfortunate  exposure  he  contracted  a  severe  cold, 
which  was  succeeded  by  a  fever  which  brought  him  to  the 
verge  of  the  grave,  and  permanently  impaired  his  constitu- 
tion. His  physician  prescribed  less  devotion  to  office- 
work,  as  a  sine  qua  ?wn  to  his  recovery;  and  accordingly, 
in  1839,  Judge  Caton  moved  on  to  a  farm  in  the  country 
where  he  resided  until  1842,  meanwhile  keeping  up  his 
practice  in  three  or  four  of  the  neighboring  counties.  His 
health  becoming  restored  by  this  out-door  life,  he  again 
returned  with  renewed  zeal  to  his  profession;  and  such  was 
the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  that  when,  in  1842, 
Judge  Ford,  o|  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  was  elected 
Governor,  Judge  Caton  was  appointed  his  successor.  He 
was  then  but  thirty  years  of  age;  and  at  such  a  moment, 
in  reviewing  his  past  life  —  the  struggles  which  he  had 
undergone  in  lifting  himself  by  his  own  exertions  alone  out 
of  the  depths  of  poverty;  gathering  the  rudiments  of  an 
education  at  the  district-school,  rounded  off  by  a  term  or 
two  at  a  select-school;  then,  still  struggling  on,  a  student  at 
law  practicing  before  a  Justice's  Court,  or  performing  cleri- 

*  Judge  Lockwood  examined  the  candidate  on  a  moonlit  evening, 
they  standing  on  either  side  of  a  low,, oak  swamp  on  the  bank  of  the 
Illinois  River,  at  Pekin,  in  Tazwell  County.  At  its  conclusion,  he 
said,  "  Young  man,  I  shall  give  you  a  license,  but  you  have  a  great  deal 
to  learn  to  make  you  a  good  lawyer.  If  you  work  hard  you  will  attain 
it,  if  you  do  not  you  will  be  a  failure. "  In  nine  years  from  that  time 
he  was  sitting  beside  Judge  Lockwood  on  the  Bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 


8  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

cal  labor  to  gain  a  support, — it  must  have  awakened  in  him 
a  feeling  of  proud  satisfaction  thus  to  find  himself  elevated 
to  a  post  of  such  grave  responsibility.     At  that  time,  the 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  elected  by  the  General 
Assembly,  and  the  commission  which  had  been  conferred 
on  Judge  Caton  expired  with  the  adjournment  ot  that  body, 
when  John  M.  Robinson,  who  had  just  retired  from  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  was  chosen  to  that  position; 
but   as   that   gentleman  died   the   following   April,   Judge 
Caton  was  again  commissioned  by  Governor  Ford  as  his 
successor.     The  gravest  objection  to  electing  Judge  Caton 
in  the  first  instance  had  been  that  he  was  too  young;  but 
now,  with  a  commission  which  was  to  continue  nearly  two 
years,  he  had  the  opportunity  of  demonstrating  his  fitness 
for  such  a  position.     But,  suffice  it  to  say,  that  at  the  next 
sesssion  of  the  Legislature,  he  was  elected*t>y  the  united 
vote  of  his  party. 

In  1848,  the  Constitution  of  the  State  was  revised,  and 
the  Judiciary  system  was  so  far  altered  as  to  provide  for 
the  creation  of  a  Supreme  Court  composed  of  three  Judges, 
elected  by  the  people,  and  who  were  relieved  from  Circuit 
duties.  At  the  first  election,  S.  H.  Treat,  now  United 
States  District  Judge  for  the  Southern  District  of  Illinois, 
Lyman  Trumbull,  now  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  from 
the  same  State,  and  Judge  Caton,  were  chosen  as  the  mem- 
bers to  constitute  the  Supreme  Court.  At  the  first  session, 
it  was  required  that  they  cast  lots  for  the  respective  terms 
of  three,  six,  and  nine  years.  The  short  term  fell  to  Judge 
Trumbull;  the  middle  term  to  Judge  Caton;  and  the  long 
term  to  Judge  Treat,  who  became  Chief-Justice.  The  lat- 
ter resigned  in  April,  1855,  when  Judge  Caton  succeeded 
to  his  rank,  and  so  continued  until  the  expiration  of  his 
commission,  which  occurred  in  June  of  that  year.  He  was 
reelected  to  the  position  of  Judge,  and  in  1857,  on  the 
resignation  of  Chief-Justice  Scates,  he  again  became  the 
head  of  the  Bench,  and  continued  to  occupy  that  position 
until  1864,  when  he  resigned. 

Thus,  after  an  almost  uninterrupted  service  of  twenty-two 
years,  Chief-Justice  Caton,  in  the  vigor  of  life  and  with 
mental  powers  unimpaired,  retired  from  the  active  duties 
of  a  profession,  which  had  been  the  great  object  of  his 
devotion  and  which  he  had  adorned  by  his  example,  to 
indulge  in»other  pursuits  less  exhausting  in  their  nature  and 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  9 

more  congenial,  perhaps,  to  those  who  do  not  feel  the  spur 
of  necessity.  And  yet,  exacting  as  were  his  judicial  duties, 
Judge  Caton,  having  early  learned  how  to  economize  his 
time,  was  enabled  to  turn  his  attention  to  other  pursuits, 
and  to  identify  his  name  with  many  of  the  leading  projects 
of  the  day. 

In  1849,  ne  became  incidentally  interested  in  the  O'Reil- 
ly Telegraph  Company,  and,  much  against  his  wishes,  was 
elected  a  director.  He  found  himself  one  of  a  board  who 
knew  little  of  the  principles  of  the  art  of  telegraphy,  or  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  business  should  be  conducted. 
But  Judge  Caton  had  that  inquisitive  mind  which  could 
not  rest  content  until  it  had  penetrated  to  the  hidden 
causes  of  things.  He  got  such  books  as  could  be  pro- 
cured, treating  of  electricity  and  galvanism,  and  mastered 
their  contents ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  instituted  a  series 
of  experiments  as  to  the  best  methods  of  transmitting  intel- 
ligence by  means  of  this  subtle  and  invisible  fluid.  He 
became  sufficiently  expert  as  an  operator  to  be  able  to 
transmit  and  interpret  messages.  At  that  time  the  register 
was  in  universal  use,  and  the  operator  who  could  read  by 
sound  was  regarded  as  a  prodigy. 

This  company  was  organized  under  the  name  and  style 
of  "The  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Telegraphic  Company." 
Their  line  was  cheaply  built  and  of  poor  materials.  Their 
business  was  not  sufficient  to  pay  expenses,  and  their  stock 
drooped  lower  and  lower,  until  it  hardly  showed  a  symptom 
of  vitality.  At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors,  at 
Alton,  in  1852,  the  affairs  of  the  company  were  found  to  be 
in  a  most  desperate  condition; — the  treasury  was  empty, 
very  few  of  the  offices  paid  expenses,  not  half  of  the  lines 
were  worked,  there  was  a  floating  debt  of  seventeen  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  company's  credit  was  so  low  that  not  a 
druggist  would  trust  them  for  a  pound  of  acid,  and  it  was 
the  opinion  of  every  one,  except  Judge  Caton,  that  the 
enterprise  had  proved  a  total  failure,  and  that  the  only 
available  assets  to  offer  to  the  creditors  were  the  instru- 
ments. He,  however,  took  a  more  cheerful  view,  and 
sketched  out  a  plan  to  retrieve  the  desperate  fortunes  of 
the  company.  He  proposed  that  an  amendment  to  the 
charter  be  procured  by  which  the  stock  might  be  assessed 
to  the  extent  of  five  dollars  a  share,  with  power  to  sell  in 
case  of  non-payment.      The  board  assented  to  the  plan, 


10  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

on  the  condition  that  Judge  Caton  would  assume  the  pres- 
idency and  execute  it.  This  he  consented  to  do.  The 
amendment  was  obtained,  an  assessment  of  two  dollars  and 
one-half  was  levied,  enough  was  voluntarily  paid  to  get  the 
lines  in  working  order,  and  under  a  rigorous  supervision  the 
affairs  ot  the  company  began  to  brighten  and  its  credit  to 
improve.  To  accomplish  this,  Judge  Caton  not  only  drew 
largely  on  his  private  means,  but  borrowed  largely  of  his 
friends, — so  confident  was  he  as  to  the  ultimate  value  of 
this  stock  under  good  management. 

To  replace  the  hard-wood  telegraph  poles  that  were 
ready  to  tumble  down,  he  visited  in  person  the  cedar 
swamps  on  the  north  shore  of  Green  Bay,  exploring  the 
rivers  in  a  bark  canoe  paddled  by  Indians,  and  there  con- 
tracted for  a  large  supply  of  cedar  poles  to  be  delivered  in 
Chicago.  He  entered  into  negotiations  with  railroad  com- 
panies contiguous  to  the  lines  to  remove  them  within  their 
right  of  way;  he  secured  the  unappropriated  territory  in 
Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota,  and  made  contracts  on  his 
own  account  with  companies,  whose  roads  were  then  con- 
structing, to  place  the  telegraphic  wires  along  their  lines; 
so  that  ere  long  he  had  a  greater  length  of  line  than  was 
owned  by  the  old  company.  But  both  of  these  interests 
were  subsequently  consolidated.  Under  the  vigorous  su- 
perintendence of  Judge  Caton,  the  telegraph  company 
became  dividend-paying,  and  in  1 867,  a  negotiation  having 
been  effected  by  which  these  lines  were  leased  to  the  West- 
ern Union  Company,  Judge  Caton  retired  from  its  active 
management. 

Tudge  Caton,  amid  the  scenes  of  an  active  life,  has  found 
time  to  indulge  in  a  course  of  varied  reading;  and  upon 
the  well-filled  shelves  of  his  library  there  is  hardly  a  book 
which  he  has  not  read,  and  many  of  them  at  least  twice 
over.  He  has  devoted  much  time  to  natural  history.  His 
communication  to  the  Ottawa  Academy  of  Sciences,  on  the 
Cervida  or  deer  family  of  the  United  States — particularly 
in  reference  to  the  common  deer  (Cervus  virginianus)  and 
the  American  elk  or  wapiti  (Cervus  canadensis),  two  repre- 
sentatives with  which  his  ample  parks  are  stocked — is  of 
exceeding  interest.  It  is  well  known  that  this  family,  with 
the  exception  of  the  giraffe,  have  solid  horns,  and  at  the 
same  time  they  are  deciduous — that  is,  they  are  shed  each 
year.     Judge  Caton  has  noted,  more  exactly  than  any  pre- 


HON.   JOHN   DEAN   CATON.  II 

vious  observer,  how  the  horns  are  first  covered  with  skin 
similar  to  that  upon  the  rest  of  the  head — what  hunters 
call  "being  in  the  velvet;"  the  progress  of  development 
of  the  bony  tubercles  at  their  base ;  and  how,  as  they  en- 
large, they  compress  and  obliterate  the  blood-vessels*  of  the 
skin,  which  peels  off,  leaving  the  horns  bare  and  bony;  and 
how,  when  the  circulation  of  the  blood  ceases,  or  nearly  so, 
they  drop  off,  to  be  succeeded  by  a  new.  growth.  These 
changes  are  minutely  noted  in  the  paper  referred  to,  which 
really  form  a  valuable  contribution  to  natural  history. 

The  salient  points  of  Judge  Caton's  character  may  be 
briefly  summed  up:  He  possesses  a  mind  not  naturally 
brilliant,  but  solid,  capacious,  and  investigating,  united  to  a 
physical  frame  capable  of  great  endurance.  What  he  has 
accomplished  has  not  been  the  result  of  inspiration,  or  of 
the  possession  of  that  faculty  which  we  call  genius — which, 
by  the  way,  is  a  very  vague  term— but  of  patient  thought, 
advancing  step  by  step  to  a  given  goal.  The  power  of  dis- 
criminating between  what  is  substantial  and  what  is  merely 
accessory,  in  a  combination  of  facts,  he  possesses  in  an 
eminent  degree;  and  hence  his  decisions,  whilst  they  may 
not  bristle  with  citations,  are  characterized  by  eminent 
good  sense,  and  will  stand  the  test  of  time.  The  very 
habits  of  self-reliance  which,  from  early  youth,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  cultivate,  impart  additional  vigor  to  his  mind  and 
confidence  to  the  conclusions  in  which  he  rests;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  has  that  intuitive  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
that  sturdy  honesty  of  purpose,  which  cannot  be  broken 
down  by  legal  technicalities  nor  perverted  by  legal  soph- 
isms. 

Viewed  in  other  phases,  we  find  in  him  the  practical  and 
sagacious  business  man,  capable  of  originating  and  direct- 
ing the  most  complex  affairs; — founding  a  vast  system  of 
telegraphy;  engineering  water-works;  organizing  starch-fac- 
tories, glass-works,  copper-mines,  coal-mines,  and  other  en- 
terprises; and  in  fact  his  whole  nature  is  pervaded  by  a 
restless  activity. 

*  This  is  a  mistake  of  the  author ;  and  is  an  old  theory  of  natural- 
ists, that  the  enlargement  of  the  bone  compresses  the  outer  blood-vessels 
of  the  horn,  which  are  thus  destroyed,  and,  in  consequence,  the  horn 
drops  oft.  This  paper  disproves  that  theory,  and  shows  that  the  horn 
is  loosened  by  the  action  of  the  blood-vessels  which  pass  into  the 
articulation  between  the  pedicle  and  the  horn.  This  is  more  fully 
shown  in  his  subsequent  and  more  elaborate  work,  "  The  Antelope  and 
Deer  of  America,"  pp.  167-181.  In  this  work  the  whole  process  of 
the  growth  and  casting  of  the  deer's  horns  is  particularly  described. 


12  HON.   JOHN   DEAN    CATON. 

He  is  also  a  country  gentleman,  surrounded  by  his  flocks 
and  herds,  and  his  ample  parks  are  stocked  with  deer  and 
elk,  whose  habits  he  notes  and  describes  with  the  trained 
eye  of  the  naturalist. 

Many  years  ago,  he  selected  as  a  place  for  a  residence 
one  of  the  bluffs  which  overlook  the  rich  valley  of  the  Illi- 
nois. Here,  surrounded  by  alternate  groves  and  lawns,  he 
erected  a  fine  mansion,  a  portion  of  which  is  set  apart  for  a 
library.  This  site  is  one  of  great  natural  beauty,  and  has 
been  rendered  more  beautiful  by  art.  A  mile  off,  and  bris- 
tling with  activity,  lies  one  of  the  most  beautiful  villages  of 
Illinois ;  and  taking  the  whole  panorama  within  the  range 
of  vision,  nature  nowhere  presents  a  lovelier  scene.  Here, 
then,  Judge  Caton  lives,  possessed  of  all  the  accessories 
which  make  life  agreeable,  and  beloved  and  respected  by 
his  numerous  friends  and  neighbors,  who  are  ever  welcome 
to  his  hospitable  board.  As  he  reviews  his  past  career,  his 
thoughts  can  not  be  other  than  those  which  result  from  the 
recollections  of  a  well-spent  life. 


Since  the  above  sketch  was  written,  in  1870,  Judge  Caton 
has  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  travel  and  to  literary  and 
scientific  pursuits,  still  keeping  up,  however,  his  law-reading, 
and  attending  to  some  important  cases  in  the  courts. 

When  he  had  retired  from  judicial  life,  an  important 
question  had  to  be  decided  as  to  his  future.  His  literary 
tastes  and  laborious  habits  forbade  the  thought  that  he 
should  abandon  letters  and  devote  his  entire  time  to  the 
many  business  enterprises  in  which  he  was  engaged.  His 
professional  friends  strongly  advised  him  to  write  treatises 
on  some  branches  of  the  law,  as,  for  instance,  the  law  of 
corporations,  and  especially  as  applied  to  railroads  and 
telegraph,,  to  do  which  they  thought  him  well  qualified. 
But  however  agreeable  this  might  have  been  to  his  tastes 
and  habits,  he  finally  concluded  to  pursue  a  different  course, 
and  to  direct  his  studies  more  to  literary  and  scientific 
subjects.  He  had  always  been  a  great  reader,  upon  a  great 
variety  of  subjects  outside  of  his  profession.  He  generally 
had  several  books  upon  different  and  dissimilar  subjects  in 
hand,  and  some  portion  of  almost  every  day  of  his  life  was 
devoted  to  their  perusal — yes,  their  study.  In  this  way  an 
immense  amount  of  work  may  be  accomplished  in  thirty 
years'  time,  if  that  work  is  done  with  a  discriminating  judg- 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  1 3 

ment,  with  the  aid  of  a  retentive  memory.  He  had  early 
schooled  himself,  with  severe  discipline,  to  think  of  but  one 
thing  at  a  time — to  study  or  think  upon  one  subject  without 
the  intrusion  of  any  other  subject,  no  matter  how  engrossing 
might  have  been  his  interest  in  it,  and  when  he  had  finished 
or  pursued  that  as  long  as  he  chose,  to  lay  it  aside  com- 
pletely to  take  up  another  precisely  where  he  had  left  it  off 
when  it  had  last  occupied  his  thoughts,  and  devote  all  his 
mental  energies  to  that  alone.  For  instance,  after  the  mind 
had  become  weary  with  wrestling  with  some  abstruse  or 
difficult  question  of  law,  he  would  banish  it  entirely  from 
his  thoughts,  and  take  up  the  subject  of  some  telegraphic 
plan  he  was  maturing,  or  why  the  prairies  are  not  covered 
with  trees,  or  some  book  he  had  in  hand,  as  Livingston  or 
Speke  in  Africa,  or  Perry  or  Back  in  the  Arctic  regions,  or 
some  work  on  navigation  or  hydraulic  engineering,  or  some 
other  of  the  various  studies  in  which  he  was  always  engaged, 
or  some  literary  work,  as  history  or  the  classics,  and  instantly 
his  mind  was  completely  absorbed  with  the  new  subject, 
without  the  least  intrusion  of  any  other.  Such  diversion 
was  not  a  labor  but  a  recreation,  from  which  the  mind 
would  return  to  the  main  subject  of  study,  rested  and  invig- 
orated. His  rule  was  never  to  pursue  a  study  when  the 
mind  was  wearied  with  it. 

This  capacity  of  mental  abstraction  he  has  always  insisted 
is  the  true  secret  why  some  men  are  enabled  to  do  a  very 
large  amount  of  varied  business,  and  do  all  well. 

Thus  we  see  that  at  the  time  of  his  retirement  from  judi- 
cial life,  at  fifty-two  years  of  age,  this  habit  of  study  had 
laid  a  good  foundation  for  literary  and  scientific  pursuits. 

Up  to  this  time,  it  must  be  remembered,  that  he  had 
written  scarcely  anything  but  law  arguments  and  law  opin- 
ions. For  this  class  of  writings  he  had  formed  a  style 
peculiar  to  himself,  lucid,  argumentative,  and  methodical. 
If  it  was  vigorous  it  was  easy  and  agreeable  as  well,  and 
the  reader  had  no  trouble  in  following  the  writer  closely,  and 
without  an  effort.  Now,  however,  when  he  proposed  to 
write  on  an  entirely  different  class  of  subjects,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  adopt  a  quite  different  style  of  composition.  This 
he  did,  and  with  marked  success.  This  style  is  not  an 
imitation  of  that  of  any  other  author,  but  is  quite  original. 
It  is  easy,  simple,- and  unaffected,  though  vigorous  and  often 
pungent.     It  is  so  plain  as  to  be  easily  understood,  but 


14  HON.   JOHN   DEAN   CATON. 

varying  to  a  certain  degree  with  the  character  of  the  subject 
treated  of,  whether  narrative,  descriptive,  reflective,  imagi- 
native, or  philosophical.  On  occasion  his  compositions  fall 
into  a  sort  of  cadence  or  rhythm— on  the  whole  his  style  is 
easy,  clear,  and  unaffected. 

His  first  effort  in  this  new  style  is  found  in  his  address  to 
the  Bar  on  his  retirement  from  the  Bench,  and  is  the  first 
selection  in  his  "Miscellanies,"  selected  and  published  by 
Houghton,  Osgood  &  Co.,  Boston,  in  1880.  We  extract 
two  small  paragraphs  closing  this  address : 

"I  can  not  express  my  sensibilities  at  parting  with  my 
present  associates.  Long  and  anxious  labors  and  weighty 
responsibilities  have  we  for  years  shared  together,  each 
earnestly  endeavoring  to  assist  all  in  the  discharge  of  duties. 
So  has  grown  up  among  us  a  warm  personal  friendship, 
which  has  greatly  lightened  our  labors. 

"At  last,  gentlemen,  I  go  down  from  this  high  place  with 
many  regrets.  I  now  hold  my  fifth  commission  on  this 
bench.  Twice  have  I  held  the  position  of  Chief-Justice 
the  last  time  for  more  than  six  years.  Here  have  I  labored 
more  than  two-fifths  of  my  whole  life.  Long  habits  and 
present  associations  and  remembrances  have  struggled  hard 
to  dissuade  me  from  the  course  which  I  have  finally  adopted, 
but  I  felt  it  my  duty  at  last  to  yield,  and  other  considera- 
tions have  prevailed.  I  fully  appreciate  that  this  is  a  place 
worthy  of  any  well-regulated  ambition.  A  wholesome  desire 
for  an  enduring  fame  may  here  find  a  theatre  in  which  it 
may  toil  to  a  useful  purpose,  and  with  a  well-grounded  hope 
of  attaining  so  desirable  an  end.  I  resign  the  great  trusts 
which  have  been  reposed  in  me  with  the  comfortable  reflec- 
tion that  I  have  discharged  them  with  fidelity  and  with  the 
utmost  ability  with  which  I  have  been  endowed." 

His  official  announcement  of  the'  death  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  on  behalf  of  the  Bar,  to  the  Supreme  Court,  has 
been  generally  admired.  A  couple  of  extracts  will  illustrate 
its  style  and  character.  In  the  first  we  see  his  figurative 
mode  of  expressing  thought : 

"Little  more  than  four  years  ago  he  was,  by  the  voice  of 
the  American  people,  taken  from  among  us  at  the  bar  and 
placed  over  this  great  nation.  In  administering  the  affairs 
of  this  government,  he  has,  undoubtedly,  displayed  a  very 
high  order  of  ability.  At  the  very  commencement  of  his 
administration  a  great  rebellion  broke  out,  and  presented 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  15 

the  question  whether  the  light  of  this  Republic,  which  had 
for  a  few  years  shone  so  brightly,  was  but  the  brilliant  flash 
of  a  meteor  to  illuminate  the  political  horizon  of  a  civilized 
world  for  a  moment,  and  then  to  go  out  in  darkness,  or  was- 
the  fixed  shining  of  a  luminary  which  should  point  out  to 
future  ages  the  pathway  to  liberty,  prosperity,  and  happiness. 
With  the  aid  of  the  great  men,  whose  names  history  wilL 
write  on  the  same  page  with  his  own,  and  the  support  of  a 
patriotic  people,  he  had  put  down  the  rebellion,  and  already 
saw  the  angel  of  peace  arising  'with  healing  in  his  wings'  to 
bless  his  native  land,  when  he  was  struck  down  by  an 
assassin's  hand.  He  is  mourned  by  a  whole  nation  as  few 
have  been  mourned  before  him." 

"His  personal  characteristics  were  of  the  most  pleasing 
kind.  His  heart  was  full  of  benevolence,  and  he  was  ever 
prone  to  put  the  most  favorable  construction  upon  the 
frailties  of  his  fellow-men.  His  hand  was  open  to  relieve 
the  unfortunate,  and  his  efforts  were  at  the  service  of  those 
in  distress.  By  his  genial  nature  he  enlivened  every  circle 
of  which  he  was  a  member,  where  he  was  ever  welcome. 
Who  of  this  bar  does  not  remember  him  as  of  yesterday, 
when  he  was  among  us  relieving  the  hard  labors  of  the 
profession  by  his  enlivening  presence?  He  will  ever  be 
remembered  as  one  of  our  brightest  ornaments,  whose  prac- 
tice reflected  honor  upon  the  profession.  If  these  elements 
of  character  inspired  love  for  him  as  a  professional  brother, 
how  much  must  they  have  endeared  him  to  his  own  domestic 
circle — around  his  own  fireside?  If  we  feel  his  loss  as  irre- 
parable, where  but  in  God  can  be  found  the  consolation  for 
his  loss  as  a  husband  and  a  father?  Those  bereaved  ones 
may  well  look  to  us,  who  next  to  themselves  knew  him  best 
of  all,  for  that  deep  and  abiding  sympathy  which  tends  to 
soften  the  most  poignant  grief;  and  they  will  not  look  in 
vain.  Nor  to  his  professional  brethren  alone  may  they  look 
for  sympathy.  With  them  and  us  a  nation  mourns  his 
untimely  end.  I  may  say,  without  the  least  exaggeration, 
that  humanity  and  civilization  throughout  the  world  will 
feel  the  shock  which  has  draped  our  nation  in  the  habili- 
ments of  woe." 

His  address  at  Hamilton  College,  in  1868,  on  "The 
Growth  of  the  Law,"  found  in  the  "Miscellanies"  at  p.  32,  has 
been  commended  by  the  faculty  of  that  college  as  a  model. 
In  the  opening  of  this  address  we  get  a  very  distinct  glimpse 


1 6  HON.   JOHN   DEAN   CATON. 

of  the  early  struggles  of  the  author.  His  childhood  had 
been  passed  in  the  vicinity  of  that  college,  and  in  his  youth 
he  had  worked  by  the  month  on  an  adjoining  farm,  and  by 
these  surroundings  was  his  ambition  first  awakened  to  place 
himself,  by  his  own  efforts,  on  a  plane  with  those  who  were 
there  afforded  the  advantages  for  an  education,  which  were 
denied  to  him,  and,  when  after  long  years  of  labor  had 
intervened,  was  conferred  upon  him  unsolicited  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws  by  that  college  whose  walls  he  had  longingly 
looked  upon  in  boyhood,  but  whose  portals  he  could  not 
enter,  he  should  be  pardoned  if  he  experienced  a  feeling  of 
gratification,  not  to  say  exultation,  which  was  enhanced  by 
the  action  of  the  Western  alumni  of  that  college,  who  had 
selected  him  to  represent  them  in  the  delivery  of  that 
address,  and  the  favor  with  which  it  was  received  : 

"After  long  years  of  absence,  filled  with  the  trials  and  the 
vicissitudes  of  life,  whether  successful  or  unsuccessful,  we 
return  to  the  scenes  of  childhood  with  emotions  indescriba- 
ble. Objects  long  forgotten  rise  up  around  us,  each  with  a 
tale  of  pleasure  or  of  pain.  They  remind  us  of  our  early 
efforts,  of  our  little  triumphs,  and  of  our  many  pleasures. 
We  forget  the  intervening  years,  with  all  their  varied  inci- 
dents, and,  as  in  a  dream,  are  transported  back  to  that  time 
when  a  trifle  was  a  mountain  of  trouble,  a  toy  was  a  foun- 
tain of  joy.  But  with  those  even  whose  cares  commenced 
almost  with  infancy,  and  who  early  knew  privations,  the 
period  of  childhood  is  the  time  when  happiness  predomi- 
nates; hence  are  the  scenes  of  childhood  and  the  memories 
of  early  years  so  pleasing.  In  truth  there  is  no  wide  differ- 
ence between  the  joys  and  the  griefs  of  the  children  of  afflu- 
ence and  the  children  of  indigence.  The  latter  surely  have 
as  many  hours  of  pleasure,  and  no  more  moments  of  pain, 
than  the  former.  The  improvised  playthings  of  the  one 
are  as  gratifying  as  the  finished  toys  of  the  other.  The  sor- 
rows of  childhood  are  generally  transitory.  They  flit  by, 
leaving  scarcely  more  trace  than  the  shadow  of  the  passing 
cloud,  while  juvenile  joys  leave  impressions  like  sunlight 
pictures,  passing  before  us  in  after  years  like  a  pleasing 
panorama  of  by-gone  scenes.'  The  green,  wild  lawn  where 
we  played  our  little  sports;  the  old,  dark  wood  whose  shade 
we  sought;  the  apple-tree  whose  fruit  we  gathered,  'are  still 
to  memory  dear,'  though  changed  they  may  be,  or  even  gone, 
some  of  them,  forever;  enough  is  left  as  it  was  in  the  sunny 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  I1/ 

time  of  childhood  to  revive  within  us  the  record  of  the  past. 
The  most  pleasing  and  the  most  lasting  of  all  these  memo- 
ries are  the  reminders  of  parental  love.  If  some  of  us  can 
not  remember  a  father's  face  and  a  father's  voice,  the  mem- 
ory of  a  mother's  kiss  and  of  a  mother's  blessing  may  still 
glow  warmly  in  our  hearts,  whose  brightness  time  or  change 
shall  never  fade.  Surely  it  is  no  unmanly  weakness,  nor 
beneath  the  dignity  of  age,  to  be  for  a  moment  a  child  again." 

"When  God  stood  on  quaking  Sinai,  from  out  the  fiery 
cloud  he  declared  his  laws  for  the  government  of  his  pecu- 
liar people,  and  with  his  divine  finger  he  registered  these  in 
visible  characters  on  slabs  of  stone,  and  by  the  hand  of  his 
chosen  intrument  published  them  to  all  the  tribes  of  Israel. 
Worthy  indeed  is  it  that  the  first  of  all  the  written  codes  to 
■control  the  conduct  of  fallen  man  should  come  from  that 
Divine  Legislator  who  had  already,  and  from  the  beginning, 
graven  on  all  human  hearts  the  fundamental  principles  of 
right  and  wrong.  Till  then,  not  only  the  descendants  of 
Abraham,  but  also,  as  I  have  no  doubt,  the  polished  people 
of  Egypt,  as  well  as  the  peoples  and  tribes  of  Asia  and 
of  Europe,  were  governed  by  a  few  simple  laws,  told  only 
from  the  mouth  of  man,  which  were  often  perverted  and  dis- 
torted by  rulers  to  gratify  their  ambition,  their  avarice,  or 
their  pleasures." 

An  extract  from  the  "Last  of  the  Illinois"  will,  describ- 
ing the  Pottawatomie  Indians,  show  his  style  of  descriptive 
writing: 

"Since  their  emigration  from  the  north,  a  sort  of  distinc- 
tion had  grown  up  among  the  different  bands  of  the  Potta- 
watomies,  arising  from  their  several  locations,  which  seem 
to  have  stamped  upon  their  tenants  distinct  characteristics. 
Those  occupying  the  forest  lands  of  Michigan  and  Indiana 
were  called  by  themselves  and  by  the  traders,  the  Indians 
of  the  Woods,  while  those  who  roamed  these  great  grassy 
plains  were  called  the  Prairie  Indians.  The  former  were 
much  more  susceptible  to  the  influence  of  civilization  than 
the  latter.  They  devoted  themselves,  in  a  very  appreciable 
degree,  to  agriculture,  and  made  the  tillage  of  the  soil  to 
supplement  the  fruits  of  the  chase.  They  welcomed  the 
missionary  among  them  with  a  warm  cordiality.  They  lis- 
tened to  his  teachings,  and  meekly  submitted  to  his  admoni- 
tions. They  learned  by  heart  the  story  of  our  crucified 
Redeemer,  and  with  trembling  voices  recounted  to  each 
other  the  sufferings  of  the  cross.     They  bent  the  knee  and 


l8  HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON. 

bowed  the  head  reverently  in  prayer,  and  raised  their  melo- 
dious voices  in  sacred  songs  taught  them  by  the  holy  fathers. 
They  received  the  sprinklings  with  holy  water,  and  partook 
of  the  consecrated  elements,  believing  devoutly  in  their  sav- 
ing grace.  They  went  to  the  confessional  with  downcast 
looks,  and  with  deep  contrition  told  the  story  of  their  sins, 
and  with  a  radiant  joy  received  the  absolution,  which,  in 
their  estimation,  blotted  out  their  sins  forever.  Here,  in- 
deed, was  a  bright  field  of  promise  to  those  devoted  mis- 
sionaries, who  deeply  felt  that  to  save  one  human  soul  from 
the  awful  doom  which  they  believed  awaited  all  those  who- 
died  without  the  bosom  of  the  church  was  a  rich  reward  for 
a  whole  life  of  pinching  privation  and  of  severe  suffering; 
and  their  great  ambition  was  to  gather  as  many  redeemed 
souls  as  possible  to  their  account,  each  of  which  should 
appear  as  a  bright  jewel  in  the  crown  which  awaited  them 
in  the  future  state. 

"It  was  very  different,  however,  with  the  Prairie  Indians. 
They  despised  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  as  too  mean  even 
for  their  women  and  children,  and  deemed  the  captures  of 
the  chase  the  only  fit  food  for  a  valorous  people.  The  corn 
which  grew  like  grass  from  the  earth  which  they  trod  beneath 
their  feet  was  not  proper  meat  to  feed  their  greatness.  Nor 
did  they  open  their  ears  to  the  lessons  of  love  and  religion 
tendered  them  by  those  who  came  among  them  and  sought 
to  do  them  good.  If  they  tolerated  their  presence,  they  did 
not  receive  them  with  the -cordiality  evinced  by  their  more 
eastern  brethren.  If  they  listened  to  their  sermons  in  re- 
spectful silence,  they  did  not  receive  with  eager  gladness  the 
truths  they  taught.  Even  if  they  believed  for  the  moment 
what  they  were  told,  it  made  no  permanent  impression  on 
their  thoughts  and  actions.  If  they  understood  something 
of  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  which  were  told 
them,  they  listened  to  it  as  a  sort  of  theory  which  might  be 
well  adapted  to  the  white  man's  condition,  but  was  not  fitted 
for  them,  nor  they  for  it.  They  enjoyed  the  wild,  roving 
life  of  the  prairie,  and,  in  common  with  almost  all  other 
native  Americans,  were  vain  of  their  prowess  and  manhood, 
both  in  war  and  in  the  chase.  They  did  not  settle  down 
for  a  great  length  of  time  in  a  given  place,  but  roamed  across 
the  broad  prairies,  from  one  grove  or  belt  of  timber  to  an- 
other, either  in  single  families  or  in  small  bands,  packing 
their  few  effects,  their  children,  and  infirm  on  their  little 
Indian  ponies.     They  always  traveled  in  Indian  file  upon 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  1 9 

well-beaten  trails,  connecting,  by  the  most  direct  routes, 
prominent  points  and  trading-posts.  These  native  highways 
served  as  guides  to  our  early  settlers,  who  followed  them 
with  as  much  confidence  as  we  now  do  the  roads  laid  out 
and  worked  by  civilized  man." 

Again,  for  the  same  purpose,  we  copy  from  the  same 
paper  a  description  of  a  war-dance,  as  follows  : 

"I  shall  close  this  paper  with  an  account  of  the  great  war- 
dance  which  was  performed  by  all  the  braves  who  could  be 
mustered  among  the  five  thousand  Indians  here  assembled. 
The  number  who  joined  in  the  dance  was  probably  about 
eight  hundred.  Although  I  can  not  give  the  precise  day,  it 
must  have  occurred  about  the  18th  of  August,  1835.  It  was 
the  last  war-dance  ever  performed  by  the  natives  on  the 
ground  where  now  stands  this  great  city,  though  how  many 
thousands  had  preceded  it  no  one  can  tell.  They  appreciated 
that  it  was  the  last  on  their  native  soil— that  it  was  a  sort 
of  funeral  ceremony  of  old  associations  and  memories,  and 
nothing  was  omitted  to  lend  to  it  all  the  grandeur  and 
solemnity  possible.  Truly,  I  thought  it  an  impressive  scene, 
of  which  it  is  quite  impossible  to  give  an  adequate  idea  by 
words  alone. 

"They  assembled  at  the  council-house,  near  where  the 
Lake  House  now  stands,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  All 
were  entirely  naked,  except  a  strip  of  cloth  around  the  loins. 
Their  bodies  were  covered  all  over  Avith  a  great  variety  of 
brilliant  paints.  On  their  faces,  particularly,  they  seemed 
to  have  exhausted  their  art  of  hideous  decoration.  Fore- 
heads, cheeks,  and  noses  were  covered  with  curved  stripes 
of  red  or  vermilion,  which  were  edged  with  black  points,  and 
gave  the  appearance  of  a  horrid  grin  over  the  entire  coun- 
tenance. The  long,  coarse,  black  hair  was  gathered  into 
scalp-locks  on  the  tops  of  their  heads,  and  decorated  with 
a  profusion  of  hawk's  and  eagle's  feathers,  some  strung  to- 
gether so  as  to  extend  down  the  back  nearly  to  the  ground. 
They  were  principally  armed  with  tomahawks  and  war-clubs. 
They  were  led  by  what  answered  for  a  band  of  music,  which 
created  what  may  be  termed  a  discordant  din  of  hideous 
noises,  produced  by  beating  on  hollow  vessels  and  striking 
sticks  and  clubs  together.  They  advanced,  not  with  a  regu- 
lar march,  but  a  continued  dance,  Their  actual  progress 
was  quite  slow.  They  proceeded  up  and  along  the  bank 
of  the  river,  on  the  north-side,  stopping  in  front  of  every 
house  they  passed,  where  they  performed  some  extra  exploits. 


20  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

They  crossed  the  North  Branch  on  the  old  bridge,  which 
stood  near  where  the  railroad  bridge  now  stands,  and  thence 
proceeded  south  along  the  west-side  to  the  bridge  across  the 
South  Branch,  which  stood  south  of  where  Lake  Street  bridge 
is  now  located,  which  was  nearly  in  front,  and  in  full  view 
from  the  parlor  windows  of  the  Sauganash  Hotel.  At  that 
time  this  was  the  rival  hotel  to  the  Tremont,  and  stood  upon 
the  ground  lately  occupied  by  the  great  Republican  Wigwam 
where  Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated  for  the  presidency — on 
the  corner  of  Lake  and  Market  Streets.  It  was  then  a 
fashionable  boarding-house,  and  quite  a  number  of  young 
married  people  had  rooms  there.  The  parlor  was  in  the 
second  story  fronting  west,  from  the  windows  of  which  the 
best  view  of  the  dance  was  to  be  obtained,  and  these  were 
filled  with  ladies  as  soon  as  the  dance  commenced.  From 
this  point  of  view  my  own  observations  were  principally 
made.  Although  the  din  and  clatter  had  been  heard  for  a 
considerable  time,  the  Indians  did  not  come  into  view  from 
this  point  of  observation  till  they  had  proceeded  so  far  west 
as  to  come  on  a  line  with  the  house,  which  was  before  they 
had  reached  the  North-Branch  bridge.  From  that  time  on, 
they  were  in  full  view  all  the  way  to  the  South-Branch  bridge, 
which  was  nearly  before  us,  the  wild  band,  which  was  in 
front  as  they  came  upon  the  bridge,  redoubling  their  blows 
to  increase  the  noise,  closely  followed  by  the  warriors,  who 
had  now  wrought  themselves  into  a  perfect  frenzy. 

"The  morning  was  very  warm,  and  the  perspiration  was 
pouring  from  them  almost  in  streams.  Their  eyes  were  wild 
and  bloodshot.  Their  countenances  had  assumed  an  expres- 
sion of  all  the  worst  passions  which  can  find  a  place  in  the 
breast  of  a  savage ;  fierce  anger,  terrible  hate,  dire  revenge, 
remorseless  cruelty,  all  were  expressed  in  their  terrible  feat- 
ures. Their  muscles  stood  out  in  great  hard  knots,  as  if 
wrought  to  a  tension  which  must  burst  them.  Their  toma- 
hawks and  clubs  were  thrown  and  brandished  about  in  every 
direction,  with  the  most  terrible  ferocity,  and  with  a  force 
and  energy  which  could  only  result  from  the  highest  excite- 
ment, and  with  every  step  and  every  gesture  they  uttered 
the  most  frightful  yells,  in  every  imaginable  key  and  note, 
though  generally  the  highest  and  shrillest  possible.  The 
dance,  which  was  ever  continued,  consisted  of  leaps  and 
spasmodic  steps,  now  forward  and  now  back  or  sideways, 
with  the  whole  body  distorted  into  every  imaginable  unnatu- 
ral position,  most  generally  stooping  forward,  with  the  head 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.       •  21 

and  face  thrown  up,  the  back  arched  down,  first  one  foot 
thrown  far  forward  and  then  withdrawn,  and  the  other  simi- 
t  larly  thrust  out,  frequently  squatting  quite  to  the  ground,  and 
all  with  a  movement  almost  as  quick  as  lightning.  Their 
weapons  were  brandished  as  if  they  would  slay  a  thousand 
enemies  at  every  blow,  while  the  yells  and  screams  they 
uttered  were  broken  up  and  multiplied  and  rendered  all  the 
more  hideous  by  a  rapid  clapping  of  the  mouth  with  the 
palm  of  the  hand. 

"To  see  such  an  exhibition  by  a  single  individual  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  excite  a  sense  of  fear  in  a  person  not 
over  nervous.  Eight  hundred  such,  all  under  the  influence 
of  the  strongest  and  wildest  excitement,  constituting  a  rag- 
ing sea  of  dusky,  painted,  naked  fiends,  presented  a  specta- 
cle absolutely  appalling. 

"When  the  head  of  the  column  had  reached  the  front  of 
the  hotel,  leaping,  dancing,  gesticulating,  and  screaming, 
while  they  looked  up,  with  hell  itself  depicted  on  their  faces, 
at  the  ' chemokoman  squaws'  in  the  windows,  and  bran- 
dished their  weapons  as  if  they  were  about  to  make  a  real 
attack  in  deadly  earnest,  the  rear  was  still  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river,  two  hundred  yards  off;  and  all  the  intervening 
space,  including  the  bridge  and  its  approaches,  was  covered 
with  this  raging  savagery  glistening  in  the  sun,  reeking  with 
streamy  sweat,  fairly  frothing  at  their  mouths  as  with  unaf- 
fected rage,  it  seemed  as  if  we  had  a  picture  of  hell  itself 
before  us,  and  a  carnival  of  the  damned  spirits  there  con- 
fined, whose  pastimes  we  may  suppose  should  present  some 
such  scenes  as  this. 

"At  this  stage  of  the  spectacle,  I  was  interested  to  observe 
the  effect  it  had  upon  the  different  ladies  who  occupied  the 
windows  almost  within  reach  of  the  war-clubs  in  the  hands 
of  the  excited  savages  just  below  them.  Most  of  them  had 
become  accustomed  to  the  sight  of  the  naked  savages  dur- 
ing the  several  weeks  they  had  occupied  the  town,  and  had 
even  seen  them  in  the  dance  before,  for  several  minor  dances 
had  been  previously  performed,  but  this  far  excelled  in  the 
horrid  anything  which  they  had  previously  witnessed. 
Others,  however,  had  but  just  arrived  in  town,  and  had 
never  seen  an  Indian  before  the  last  few  days,  and  knew 
nothing  of  our  wild  Western  Indians  but  what  they  had 
learned  of  their  savage  butcheries  and  tortures  in  legends 
and  in  histories.  To  those  most  familiar  with  them,  the 
scenes  seemed  actually  appalling,  and  but  few  stood  it  through 


22  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

and  met  the  fierce  glare  of  the  savage  eyes  below  them  with- 
out shrinking.  It  was  a  place  to  try  the  human  nerves  of 
even  the  stoutest,  and  all  felt  that  one  such  sight  was  enough 
for  a  lifetime.  The  question  forced  itself  on  even  those  who 
had  seen  them  most,  what  if  they  should,  in  their  maddened 
frenzy,  turn  this  sham  warfare  into  a  real  attack?  How  easy 
it  would  be  for  them  to  massacre  us  all,  and  leave  not  a  liv- 
ing soul  to  tell  the  story.  Some  such  remark  as  this  was 
often  heard,  and  it  was  not  strange  if  the  cheeks  of  all  paled 
at  the  thought  of  such  a  possibility.  However,  most  of 
them  stood  it  bravely,  and  saw  the  sight  to  the  very  end; 
but  I  think  all  felt  relieved  when  the  last  had  disappeared 
around  the  corner  as  they  passed  down  Lake  Street,  and 
only  those  horrid  sounds  which  reached  them  told  that  the 
war-dance  was  still  progressing.  They  paused  in  their  pro- 
gress, for  extra  exploits,  in  front  of  Doctor  Temple's  house, 
on  the  corner  of  Lake  and  Franklin  Streets;  then  in  front 
of  the  Exchange  Coffee  House,  a  little  further  east  on  Lake 
Street ;  and  then  again  in  front  of  the  Tremont,  at  that  day 
situated  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Lake  and  Dearborn 
Streets,  where  the  appearance  of  the  ladies  in  the  windows 
again  inspired  them  with  new  life  and  energy.  From  thence 
they  passed  down  to  Fort  Dearborn,  concluding  their  per- 
formance in  the  presence  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
garrison,  where  we  will  take  a  final  leave  of  my  old  friends, 
with  more  good  wishes  for  their  future  welfare  than  I  dare 
hope  will  be  realized."* 

Among  the  scientific  papers  embraced  in  this  collection 
by  Houghton,  Osgood  &  Co.  may  be  mentioned  his  "Origin 
of  the  Prairies,"  "The  American  Cervus,"  "The  Wild  Turkey 
and  Its  Domestication,"  "The  Philosophy  of  the  Yosemite 
Valley,"  and  "The  Philosophy  of  the  Petrified  Forest  of 
California,"  but  the  publishers  have  selected  but  few  of  his 
scientific  papers,  which  have  appeared  in  the  various  scien- 
tific journals  of  our  country. 

His  most  elaborate  and  complete  work,  which  has  been 
laid  before  the  public,  is  "  The  Antelope  and  Deer  of 
America,"  published  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Co.,  Boston,  in 
1877.  This  work  embodies  the  results  of  many  years  of 
careful  observation  of  these  animals,  under  exceptionally 
favorable  circumstances,  having  long  had  them  in  large 
numbers  in  his  acclimatization  grounds,  at  his  residence  in 
Ottawa.  The  book  contains  nearly  one  hundred  well-exe- 
cuted illustrations.     It  has  been  received  with  great  favor 

*  Fergus'  Historical  Series,  No.  3,  p.  26-30. 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  23 

by  the  scientific  world,  a  second  edition  having  been  issued 
more  than  a  year  since.  It  is  accepted  as  standard  authority 
•on  the  subjects  of  which  it  treats.  All  the  reviews  of  it  by 
the  scientific  journals,  and,  indeed,  by  the  newspapers,  were 
of  unqualified  approbation. 

Judge  Caton  has  always  had  a  great  fondness  for  field 
sports — for  hunting  and  fishing,  for  camping  out,  and  the 
wild  life  of  the  woods  and  the  mountains,  where  the  wild- 
ness  of  nature  remained  undefaced,  and  in  the  pursuit  of 
his  favorite  recreation,  in  hunting  the  deer  and  the  antelope, 
he  had  excellent  opportunities  for  observing  these  animals 
in  their  wild  state.  To  this  habit  of  life,  whenever  he 
could  find  time  to  indulge  in  it,  he  attributes,  to  a  large 
extent,  his  robust  health  at  the  age  of  three  score  and  ten. 

We  here  insert  a  few  extracts  from  his  writings  to  show 
his  great  love  of  natural  scenery.  From  the  "  Last  of  the 
Illinois,"*  on  page  117  of  the  "Miscellanies,"  we  quote: 

"Wild  scenes  have  always  had  a  charm  for  me.  I  have 
ever  been  a  lover  of  nature,  and  the  enjoyment  of  those 
scenes  where  prairie  and  woodland,  lake -shore  and  river 
were  almost  everywhere  as  nature  made  them,  have  left 
behind  a  pleasing  memory  which  sometimes  makes  me  almost 
wish  that  I  could  live  over  again  my  younger  days.  Since 
nature's  handiwork  has  been  defaced  all  around  us  by  the 
hand  of  civilized  man,  I  love  to  hie  away  to  distant  shores 
and  the  far-off  mountains,  and,  with  a  few  friends  of  tastes 
similar  to  my  own,  enjoy  the  wild  scenery  among  the  rock- 
bound  islands  of  Puget's  Sound,  or  the  still  solitude  of  the 
high  Sierras. 

"Who  would  have  thought,  at  the  time  of  which  I  speak, 
that  he  who  then  here  enjoyed  the  charms  which  nature 
throws  over  all  her  works  would  ever  seek  the  far-off  scenes 
of  the  Pacific  slopes  in  which  to  indulge  his  favorite  rever- 
ies? There  are  some  who  hear  me  now  who  remember  the 
lake-beach,  with  its  conical  sand-hills  covered  over  by  the 
evergreen  juniper,  whose  fragrance  loaded  with  a  rich  aroma 
the  soft  breeze  as  it  quietly  crept  in  from  the  rippling  waters 
of  the  lake.  That  old  lake -shore,  fashioned  as  God  had 
made  it  by  his  winds  and  waves  for  ten  thousand  years  be- 
fore, had  more  charms  for  me  than  since  the  defacing  hand 
■of  man  has  builded  there  broad  avenues  and  great  marble 
palaces,  which  are  as  far  beneath  the  works  of  nature's  archi- 
tect as  man  himself  is  beneath  Him  who  made  all  things 
well.     I  thought  it  then  a  romantic  place  fit  for  the  meeting 

*  Fergus'  Historical  Series,  No.  3,  p.  5. 


24  HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON. 

of  native  lovers,  in  which  to  say  soft  words,  and  I  felt  as- 
sured that  it  was  so  regarded  by  them  when  once  I  was 
called  upon  to  unite  in  wedlock  there  a  happy  pair,  whose 
ambition  it  was  to  conform  to  the  white  man's  mode  in  that 
solemn  rite,  and,  as  the  dusky  bride  explained,  to  have  it 
last  forever. 

"As  might  have  been  anticipated,  neither  history  nor  tra- 
dition pretends  to  go  back  to  the  origin  of  any  of  the  native 
tribes  who  occupied  this  land  when  first  explored  by  civilized 
man.  At  that  time,  the  country  where  we  live  was  princi- 
pally occupied  by  the  Illinois  Indians,  an  important  people 
who  ranged  from  the  Wabash  to  the  Mississippi,  and  from 
the  Ohio  even  to  Lake  Superior,  although  there  were  a  great 
many  other  tribes  occupying  the  same  territory." 

Again,  for  the  same  purpose,  we  quote  from  "The  Ante- 
lope and  Deer  of  America,"  page  344,  the  opening  paragraph 
into  the  chapter  on  "The  Chase": 

"No  saint  in  the  calendar  has  had  more  devoted  or  more 
painstaking  disciples  than  St.  Hubert.  In  savage  life,  the 
pursuit  of  wild  beasts,  or  the  capture  of  fish  has  always  been 
a  necessity,  and  in  all  ages  and  in  all  civilized  countries 
many  persons  have  found  them  most  exquisite  enjoyment  in 
the  same  pursuit.  As  a  general  rule,  these  persons  are- 
lovers  of  nature  unmarred  by  the  hand  of  man.  They  love 
to  'hear  the  rushing  of  mighty  waters  and  they  love  to  hear 
the  cadence  of  the  murmuring  brook.  They  love  the  deep 
shade  of  the  primeval  forest,  and  they  love  the  broad  ex- 
panse of  the  wild  prairie  with  its  green,  grassy  carpet  joined 
all  over  with  brilliant  wild  flowers,  whose  fragrance  they  in- 
hale with  a  new  delight.  The  canon  and  the  mountain 
crag,  where  the  throes  of  nature  have  upheaved  the  earth's 
deep  crust  and  thrown  all  into  a  wild  confusion,  as  if  in 
anger  an  almighty  hand  had  there  dashed  the  debris  of  an- 
other world.  They  love  to  sleep  beneath  the  old  pine  tree 
and  •  listen  to  the  sighing  of  the  wind  as  it  softly  creeps 
through  its  long  and  slender  leaves,  or  upon  the  soft  grass, 
by  the  side  of  the  sweet  spring  of  water  under  the  broad- 
spreading  oak,  the  rustling  of  whose  leaves  soothe  to  quiet 
repose.  They  love  to  listen  to  the  raging  storm,  and  see  its 
wild  mark  all  around  them;  and  so  they  love  the  soothing 
influence  of  the  quiet  cabin,  where  nature  seems  in  profound 
repose,  and  all  is  still  as  the  infant's  sleep.  At  the  break  of 
day  upon  the  mountain  side  they  love  to  count  the  stars 
and  witness  the  waking  of  animated  nature,  when  the  birds 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  2$ 

fly  forth  to  sing  and  the  beasts  leave  their  lairs  to  seek  their 
food,  while  yet  the  dew  softens  the  herbage  which  they  love 
the  best.  They  love  to  catch  the  sun's  first  rays  as  they 
dart  from  beneath  the  distant  horizon,  feeling  new  life  and 
vigor  as  they  shine  upon  them,  and  with  swelling  heart  they 
watch  him  rise  as  if  from  a  bed  of  rest  and  cast  his  smile 
upon  the  new-born  day.  Oh,  it  is  a  glorious  joy  to  be  where 
the  defacing  hand  of  man  has  never  marred  the  harmoni- 
ous beauty  which  pervades  Nature's  handiworks.  There  we 
look  with  reverence  and  awe  upon  what  God  has  done,  and 
what  God  alone  could  do,  and  rejoice,  even  in  our  insignifi- 
cance, that  we  are  permitted  there  to  contemplate  such 
sublime  display.  Far  away  from  ever-restless  city  life,  and 
its  surging  crowd,  and  its  tainted  air,  we  love  to  breathe  the 
air  of  freedom,  sweet  and  uncontaminated,  where  every 
breath  revives  the  spirits,  stimulates  the  circulation,  awak- 
ens the  dorment  energies,  and  inspires  new  life  within  us. 
If  this  be  savage  life,  then  am  I  a  savage  still.  If  these  be 
traits  of  character  inherited  from  remote  barbarous  ances- 
tors, I  rejoice  that  civilization  has  failed  to  strangle  what 
in  them  was  purest  and  most  elevating." 

Judge  Caton  claims  to  be  but  an  amateur  naturalist,, 
and,  with  a  refreshing  disregard  of  the  dry  technicalities  of 
the  professional  scientists,  he  has  presented  his  facts  in  a 
popular  garb  which  lends  to  science  a  charm,  for  the  general 
reader  who  takes  an  interest  in  the  habits  and  peculiarities 
of  wild  animals  as  well  as  to  the  student  of  zoology. 

As  an  extemporaneous  public  speaker  Judge  Caton 
acquired  a  fine  reputation  while  at  the  bar  and  before  he 
went  on  the  bench,  and  the  old  settlers  speak  of  some  of 
his  efforts  with  admiration  and  enthusiasm,  but  during  his 
seclusion  for  nearly  a-quarter  of  a  century  in  the  Supreme 
Court  this  was  quite  forgotten,  or  only  remembered  by  the 
very  few.  Indeed  a  new  generation  had  grown  up,  who 
knew  nothing  of  it,  who  felt  some  surprise  at  hearing  a 
voice  which  had  been  so  long  silent  addressing  them,  with 
a  harmonious  accent,  in  an  easy  and  graceful  flow  of  lan- 
guage, with  complete  and  well-turned  sentences  logically 
arranged,  which  would  bear  printing  without  correction. 
This  is  well  illustrated  in  his  speech  before  the  Circuit 
Court,  in  the  case  ^of  Milward  v.  Telegraph  Company,  the 
closing  part  of  which  was  reported  for  the  press  at  the  time, 
and  is  given  under  the  head  of  "A  Lawyer's  Retrospect" 
at  page  six  in  his  "Miscellanies." 


26  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

"I  have  now  finished  what  I  propose  to  say  in  reference 
to  the  case.  Here  our  responsibility  ends,  and  that  of  your 
Honor  commences;  but  I  will  crave  the  indulgence  of  the 
court  for  a  brief  reminiscence.  It  is  now  more  than  thirty- 
eight  years  since  I  commenced  my  professional  career  in  the 
little  hamlet  where  this  great  city  now  stands.  Its  site  was 
then  covered  with  wild  grass,  or  native  and  tangled  shrubs, 
while  the  river  was  broadly  bordered  with  aquatic  vegetation, 
leaving  a  deep  channel  along  its  centre,  of  clear  and  whole- 
some water,  which  was  used  exclusively  for  culinary  and 
drinking  purposes.  Our  two  hundred  and  fifty  persons  were 
sheltered  in  rude  cabins  or  small  dwellings,  and  our  only 
streets  consisted  of  winding  tracks  along  the  banks  of  the 
river  or  leading  away  to  the  interior. 

"Clients  were  then  scarce,  but  as  there  were  but  two  of 
us  to  do  the  business,  the  only  rivalry  between  us  was  as  to 
who  could  most  zealously  serve  his  client  with  the  greatest 
courtesy  and  kindness  to  each  other.  The  late  Judge 
Spring,  who  was  then  my  social  companion  and  my  only 
professional  competitor,  has  long  since  closed  his  professional 
career,  and  passed  beyond  the  precincts  of  earthly  courts, 
but  not  until  he  saw  gathered  around  him  a  bar  distinguished 
for  numbers  as  well  as  for  its  learning.  How  great  the 
change  which  these  few  years  have  wrought!  How  few  are 
left  of  those  who  lived  here  then !  Their  numbers  can  be 
told  on  the  fingers  of  a  single  hand.  With  what  a  throng 
are  their  places  filled,  among  whom  they  are  scarcely  missed, 
except  by  a  few  old  friends  who  knew  them  long  ago !  The 
village  has  grown  into  a  great  city,  where  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands are  hastening  with  busy  steps  through  the  thronged 
streets,  intent  upon  the  accomplishment  of  individual  enter- 
prises, which  aggregate  into  a  great  whole  and  make  the 
wonder  of  the  commercial  world.  As  our  profession  must 
of  necessity  keep  even  pace  with  the  other  affairs  of  busy 
men,  a  long  list  must  be  told  before  its  members  can  be 
counted. 

"This,  then,  was  the  only  court  of  record  to  settle  the 
suits  of  contending  parties,  and  a  single  judge,  in  three  days' 
session,  could  close  the  business  of  the  year.  Now,  seven 
judges,  in  almost  perpetual  session,  are  unequal  to  the  task. 
Judge  Young  was  your  Honor's  first  predecessor,  and  he 
here  held  the  first  court  of  record  in  which  I  ever  appeared 
professionally.  Governor  Ford  was  then  state's-attorney  in 
attendance,   and  also   from  abroad  appeared   Ben.    Mills, 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  2/ 

whose  smooth  flow  of  eloquence  exceeded  that  of  any  man 
to  whom  I  ever  listened;  there  were  also  William  L.  May, 
of  Springfield,  and  James  M.  Strode,  of  Galena.  James  H. 
Collins  had  now  joined  our  ranks  at  home,  and  he,  with 
Mr.  Spring  and  myself,  then  represented  in  this  court  the 
Chicago  Bar.  Though  their  numbers  were  but  few,  many 
of  them  have  filled  large  pages  in  the  history  of  our  State, 
and  their  names  will  long  be  remembered  even  outside  our 
professional  circle.  I  succeeded  Judge  Ford  upon  the 
supreme  bench,  when  he  was  elected  governor,  less  than  ten 
years  after  the  time  of  which  I  speak,  and  I  sat  upon  that 
bench  with  Judge  Young,  after  he  had  served  a  term  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States;  and,  in  1846,  I  sat  upon  the 
bench  which  your  Honor  now  occupies,  in  his  place,  when 
he  was  kept  away  by  sickness.  Of  all  these  not  one  is  left ! 
I  was  the  youngest  of  them  all,  and  I  stand  here  alone,"  the 
last  representative  of  the  court  and  bar  of  Chicago  of  thirty- 
eight  years  ago.  Those  whom  I  have  named  were  young 
men  then,  full  of  glowing  hope  and  ardent  ambition  which 
rapidly  ripened  into  fruition.  They  filled  their  places  hon- 
orably, and  have  passed  away  to  their  long  account.  It 
seems  to  me  but  as  yesterday,  when  we  all  first  met  together 
in  the  unfinished  loft  of  the  old  Mansion  House,  just  north 
of  where  the  Tremont  now  stands ;  and  yet  the  changes 
about  us  have  been  such  as,  in  other  times  and  in  other 
countries,  centuries  would  not  have  accomplished.  The 
great  advance  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  which  one  might 
think  had  culminated  in  our  day,  have  made  this  progress 
possible,  so  that  only  when  memory  spans  the  space  between 
now  and  then  does  it  seem  so  short;  when  the  mind  slowly 
and  carefully  retraces  the  way,  noting  but  the  important  in- 
cidents strewn  along  the  path,  then  it  is  that  the  road  seems 
long.  The  years  of  patient  and  unflagging  toil;  the  thou- 
sand obstacles  met  and  overcome ;  the  difficulties  and  un- 
certainties attendant  upon  every  step  of  human  progress; 
the  hopes  realized  or  broken ;  the  ambition  gratified  or 
blasted;  alternate  success  or  failure  which  have  left  their 
record  on  the  human  mind, — all  these  tell  us  how  long  the 
way  has  been ;  and  as  advancing  years  slowly  creep  upon 
us,  we  feel  less  and  less  inclined,  were  the  offer  made  to  us, 
to  take  the  chances  of  another  journey  over  the  road  of  life, 
though  the  first  may  have  been  full  of  happiness,  the  memory 
of  which  alone  is  the  sweetest  joy,  and  though  more  than 
ordinary  success  may  have  crowned  our  efforts. 


28  HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON. 

"The  incident  to  which  I  have  referred  may  serve  to  ex- 
plain why  I  have  felt  a  desire,  after  a  lapse  of  thirty  years, 
to  appear  again,  and,  probably,  for  the  last  time  in  this 
court  in  the  simple  capacity  of  a  lawyer.  Here  I  com- 
menced my  professional  life.  In  this  court  I  first  appeared 
as  an  advocate.  This  was  the  first  court  of  record  which  I 
ever  addressed,  and  before  it  I  first  addressed  a  jury.  The 
place,  too,  has  its  pleasing  associations.  Although  for  many 
years  official  duties  required  my  residence  in  another  city, 
yet  Chicago  was  my  first  Western  home,  and  has  ever  seemed 
more  than  half  a  home  to  me.  The  uniform  kindness,  cor- 
diality, and  support  which  I  have  ever  received  from  her 
citizens,  as  well  those  who  came  after  I  left  as  those  who 
were  my  neighbors  before,  have  made  me  always  feel  at 
home  here;  and  the  respect  and  consideration  which  the  bar 
of 'this  city  has  ever  manifested  toward  me  have  most  keenly 
touched  my  sensibilities,  and  left  an  indelible  impression  on 
my  mind.  Again  have  I  appeared  in  the  Cook-County  Cir- 
cuit Court,  and  have  done  the  best  1  could  respecting  a 
client's  cause.  Again  have  I  received  a  patient  and  atten- 
tive hearing,  and  now  with  gratified  satisfaction  I  retire, 
deeply  sensible  of  the  indulgence  shown  me,  wishing  your 
Honor  and  my  professional  brethren  long  and  happy  lives, 
crowned  with  honor  and  with  usefulness." 

Again,  his  response  on  behalf  of  the  Old  Settlers  to  the 
Calumet  Club  shows  with  what  facility  he  speaks  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment,  for  he  had  received  no  notice  of  the 
part  he  was  expected  to  take  till  he  entered  the  room  that 
evening.* 

'■'Gentlemen  of  the  Calumet  Club: — The  pleasing  duty  has 
been  assigned  me  by  my  associates  of  years  gone  by  of 
expressing  our  feelings  toward  you  for  your  kind  words  and 
generous  hospitality.  It  is  a  task  I  feel  quite  unable  to  per- 
form.    Words  are  wanting  adequately  to  express  the  sensi- 

*  The  Calumet  Club,  representing  the  wealth  and  culture  of  Chicago, 
invited  to  its  parlors  all  persons  whose  advent  to  the  City  dated  back 
of  the  year  1840,  and  a  special  effort  was  made  to  bring  together  at 
the  reception  all  those  whose  life  had  been  coincident  with  the  growth 
of  Chicago.  A  large  attendance  was  secured,  and  Gen.  Henry  Strong, 
in  behalf  of  the  club,  delivered  an  address  of  welcome  to  the  survivors 
of  the  founders  of  Chicago.  It  was  in  response  to  this  address  that 
Judge  Caton  spoke,  taking  the  chair  and  acting  as  president  during  the 
remainder  of  the  evening- 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  29 

bilities  which  are  awakened  in  the  bosom  of  each  one  of  us 
— whom  your  generous  forethought  has  brought  together 
here — who  forty  years  or  more  ago  made  the  little  ham- 
let of  Chicago  our  home,  and  devoted  our  energies  to  laying 
the  foundations  of  this  great  city.  It  is  gratifying  to  us  to 
know  that,  as  we  are  passing  down  the  road  that  ends, — 
where,  we  can  not  see,  -  those  who  are  rising  up  to  take  our 
places  in  the  labors  of  life  feel  kindly  toward  us  and  appre- 
ciate what  we  have  done,  or,  at  least,  attempted  to  do.  As 
I  look  about  me  and  see  gathered  here  friends  of  so  many 
years  ago,  I  am  transported  back  to  the  time  when  we  were 
all  young.  Even  then  there  were  old  men  here,  at  least  so 
they  seemed  to  us,  among  whom  I  may  recall  Col.  Jean 
Baptiste  Beaubien,  Dr.  Elijah  D.  Harmon,  and  John  Wright. 
They  have  long  since  passed  away,  but  their  names  should 
never  be  forgotten.  The  old  men  called  us  boys  then,  with 
more  main-spring  than  regulator,  but  we  thought  we  were 
well-balanced  men.  You  call  us  old  men  now,  but  we  feel 
somewhat  boyish  still.  It  is  a  pleasant  retrospect  to  go 
back  in  memory  forty  years — let  me  go  back  forty-six  years, 
when  I  here  set  my  stake  and  commenced  the  business  of 
life.  There  were  then  not  two  hundred  people  here.  I 
was  an  old  resident  of  six  weeks'  standing  before  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  inhabitants  could  be  counted  to  authorize  a 
village  incorporation  under  the  general  laws  of  the  State. 
Colonel  Beaubien  presided  at  that  meeting,  and  at  his  re- 
quest I  sat  beside  him  as  prompter,  for  official  honors  and 
responsibilities  were  new  to  him. 

When  we  had  attained  the  dignity  of  a  village  corpora- 
tion, with  the  wild  waters  of  the  lake  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  broad  and  brilliant  prairie,  still  untouched  by  the  hus- 
bandman's plowshare,  on  the  other,  we  thought  we  were  a 
great  people,  and  even  then,  though  feebly,  discounted  the 
future  of  Chicago.  Of  those  who  were  present  at  that 
memorable  birth,  I  rejoice  to  see  many  here  before  me. 
How  can  I  express  our  feelings  of  gratitude  to  that  Divine 
hand  which  has  so  long  sustained  us,  and  bounteously 
lengthened  out  our  days,  and  again  brought  us  together 
under  conditions  of  so  much  happiness,  and  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  so  goodly  a  measure  of  health.  I  think  I  can 
county  twenty,  at  least,  who  were  here  forty-six  years  ago, 
when  Chicago  had  no  streets  except  on  paper;  when  the 
wild  grass  grew  and  the  wild  flowers  bloomed  where  the 
court-house  square  was  located;  when  the  pine  woods  bor- 


30  HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON. 

dered  the  lake  north  of  the  river,  and  the  east  sides  of  both 
branches  of  the  river  were  clothed  with  dense  shrubbery 
forests  to  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  their  junction.  Then 
the  wolves  stole  from  these  coverts  by  night,  and  prowled 
through  the  hamlet,  hunting  for  garbage  around  the  back- 
doors of  our  cabins.  Late  in  1833,  a  bear  was  reported  in 
the  skirt  of  the  timber  along  the  South  Branch,  when  George 
White's  loud  voice  and  bell — he  was  as  black  as  night  in  a 
cavern,  his  voice  had  the  volume  of  a  fog-horn,  and  he  was 
recognized  as  the  town-crier — summoned  all  to  the  chase. 
All  the  curs  and  hounds,  of  high  and  low  degree  were  mus- 
tered, with  abundance  of  fire-arms  of  the  best  quality  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  knew  well  how  to  use  them.  Soon 
Bruin  was  treed  and  dispatched  very  near  to  where  the  Rock- 
Island  Depot  now  stands.  Then  was  the  time  when  we 
chased  the  wolf  over  the  prairies  now  within  the  city-limits, 
and  I  know  some  here  were  of  the  party  who  pursued  one 
right  through  the  little  hamlet  and  on  to  the  floating  ice 
near  old  Fort  Dearborn.  Oh,  those  were  glorious  times 
when  warm  blood  flowed  rapidly,  no  matter  how  low  stood 
the  mercury.  Then  in  winter  the  Chicago  River  was  our 
skating-rink  and  our  race-course.  Let  me  ask  John  Bates 
over  there  if  he  remembers  when  we  skated  together  up  to 
Hardscrabble, — where  Bridgeport  now  is, — and  he  explained 
to  me,  by  pantomime  alone,  how  the  Indians  caught  musk- 
rats  under  the  ice?  And  let  me  ask  Silas  B.  Cobb  if  he 
remembers  the  trick  Mark  Beaubien  played  on  Robert  A. 
Kinzie  to  win  the  race  on  the  ice  that  winter?  See,  now, 
how  Mark's  eye  flashes  fire  and  he  trembles  in  every  fibre 
at  the  bare  remembrance  of  that  wild  Excitement.  This 
was  the  way  he  did  it.  He  and  Kinzie  had  each  a  very  fast 
pony,  one  a  pacer  and  the  other  a  trotter.  Mark  had 
trained  his  not  to  break  when  he  uttered  the  most  unearthly 
screams  and  yells  which  he  could  pour  forth,  and  that  is  say- 
ing much,  for  he  could  beat  any  Pottawatomie  I  ever  heard, 
except  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  and  John  S.  C.  Hogan.  The 
day  was  bright  aud  cold.  The  glittering  ice  was  smooth  as 
glass,  the  atmosphere  pure  and  bracing.  The  start  was 
about  a  mile  up  the  South  Branch.  Down  came  the  trotter ' 
and  the  pacer  like  a  whirlwind,  neck  and  neck,  till  they 
approached  Wolf  Point,  or  the  junction,  when  Kinzie's 
pony  began  to  draw  ahead  of  the  little  pacer,  and  bets  were 
two  to  one  on  the  trotting-nag  as  he  settled  a  little  nearer 
to  the  ice  and  stretched  his  head  and  neck  further  out,  as  if 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  3 1 

determined  to  win  if  but  by  a  throat-latch.  It  was  at  this 
supreme  moment  that  Mark's  tactics  won  the  day.  He 
sprang  to  his  feet  in  his  plank-built  pung,  his  tall  form  tower- 
ing above  all  surroundings,  threw  high  in  the  air  his  wolf- 
skin cap,  frantically  swung  round  his  head  his  buffalo-robe, 
and  screamed  forth  such  unearthly  yells  as  no  human  voice 
ever  excelled,  broken  up  into  a  thousand  accents  by  a  rapid 
clapping  of  the  mouth  with  the  hand.  To  this  the  pony 
was  well  tra'ned,  and  it  but  served  to  bring  out  the  last  inch 
of  speed  that  was  in  him,  while  the  trotter  was  frightened 
out  of  his  wits,  no  doubt  thinking  a  whole  tribe  of  Indians 
were  after  him,  and  he  broke  into  a  furious  run,  which  car- 
ried him  far  beyond  the  goal  before  he  could  be  brought 
down.  Hard  words  were  uttered  then,  which  it  would  not 
do  to  repeat  in  a  well-conducted  Sunday-school,  but  the 
winner  laughed  and  pocketed  the  stakes  with  a  heartiness 
and  zest  which  Mark  alone  could  manifest. 

There  is  an  inspiration  in  the  memory  of  those  glorious 
days  of  fun  and  frolic  which  quickens  the  pulse  to  full  youth- 
ful vigor,  and  now  to  see  so  many  of  those  around  me  who 
were  the  life  and  soul  of  those  hilarious  times,  transports 
me  back  to  them,  and  makes  me  feel  as  if  no  long  years  of 
toil  had  rolled  along  since  then.  We  forget  for  the  moment 
the  intervening  time,  and  remember  only  the  broad,  unbro- 
ken prairie,  which  then  extended  for  miles  around  the  spot 
where  this  hall  stands.  But  you  must  not  think  that  all  our 
time  was  spent  in  fun  and  frolic.  Our  sports  were  but  epi- 
sodes, while  our  days  and  nights  were  spent  in  labors 
inspired  and  sustained  by  vigorous  health,  indomitable  will, 
and  a  full  appreciation  of  the  life-long  task  before  us.  We 
felt  and  knew  that  wisdom  and  energy  and  industry  could 
alone  build  up  such  a  city  as  its  geographical  position 
seemed  to  require.  The  spirit  manifested  by  those  who 
commenced  the  work  would  be  likely  to  make  its  impress 
upon  the  teeming  throngs  which  were  already  hastening  to 
join  us  from  the  East  and  the  South,  and  the  wonderful 
work  wrought  by  those  who  joined  and  came  after  us,  and 
which  have  just  been  so  truthfully  and  so  eloquently  de- 
scribed, we  flatter  ourselves  were  in  part  at  least  the  follow- 
ings  of  what  we  began. 

To  us  of  the  olden  time,  who  as  your  guests  feel  ourselves 
so  much  honored,  contrasts  are  continually  presenting  them- 
selves. Then  and  now  ever  present  themselves  side  by  side. 
Here  I  commenced  my  judicial  career  at  the  age  of  twenty- 


32  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

two  as  a  justice-of-the-peace.  On  the  12th  of  July,  1834, 
a  judicial  election  was  held  in  this  town,  including  the  vil- 
lage and  surrounding  country,  for  one  justice-of-the-peace. 
The  canvass  was  very  warm  and  active  by  the  friends  of  the 
two  candidates,  though  no  party  politics  were  involved  in 
the  contest,  as  I  think  there  never  should  be  in  judicial 
elections.  One  candidate  received  172  votes,  and  the  other 
received  47  votes.  But  219  voters  could  be  found  in  Chi- 
cago and  vicinity.  Probably  this  was  the  last  election  ever 
held  here  when  every  voter  came  to  the  polls.  Indeed,  I 
regret  to  say  that  the  most  enterprising  and  thorough-going 
men  here  have  rarely  taken  time  to  go  and  vote,  and  their 
example  has  been  too  largely  followed,  though  not  by  the 
baser  sort.  At  the  last  presidential  election,  three  years 
ago,  Chicago  polled  62,448  votes,  and  yet  a  large  number 
of  voters  took  no  interest  in  the  matter,  or  at  least  took 
more  interest  in  their  stores  or  their  shops.  I  doubt  if  much 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  voters  in  this  City  have  voted 
since  1840.  How  can  we  resist  noticing  the  contrast  be- 
tween 219  in  1834,  and  62,448  in  1876,  especially  when  we 
remember  that  the  latter  number  was  heavily  handicapped. 
On  that  same  12th  of  July,  an  event  occurred  of  a  com- 
mercial character  which  should  render  it  memorable,  and 
deserves  to  be  recorded.  On  that  day,  the  first  commercial 
vessel  passed  the  piers  into  the  Chicago  Harbor — the  Illi- 
nois, Capt.  Pickering.  Early  on  that  morning,  the  friends 
of  the  successful  candidate  assembled  at  the  piers,  which 
consisted  of  a  few  wooden  cribs,  and  dragged  the  schooner 
across  the  bar  into  deep  water,  where  all  got  on  board  and 
sailed  in  her  up  the  river  to  the  poinfrwhere  the  election 
was  held,  shouting  merrily,  and  were  answered  by  those  on 
shore  manifesting  an  appreciation  of  the  important  event. 
She  was  gayly  decorated  with  all  the  bunting  which  could 
be  raised,  and  we  thought  presented  a  splendid  appearance, 
the  rigging  manned  by  all  who  could  climb  the  shrouds. 
This  kindled  an  enthusiasm  which  lasted  till  the  last  vote 
was  polled,  and  no  doubt  contributed  more  to  the  success 
than  the  merits  of  the  candidate.  The  most  active  and 
efficient  man  on  that  day,  as  I  remember,  was  the  late 
George  W.  Dole,  who  was  always  thoroughly  in  earnest, 
whether  electioneering  for  a  friend  or  attending  to  his  com- 
mercial affairs.  His  memory  should  be  ever  cherished,  and 
his  name  never  forgotten  when  the  founders  of  this  City  are 
recalled. 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  33 

The  contrast  of  the  hotels  and  of  the  mode  of  living  in 
Chicago  is  scarcely  less  striking.  The  first  night  I  slept  in 
Chicago  was  in  a  log-tavern,  the  name  such  hotels  went  by 
then,  west  of  the  junction  of  the  rivers,  kept  by  W.  W. 
Wattles.  The  next  day  I  learned  that  the  best  entertain- 
ment was  to  be  had  at  the  crack  boarding-house  of  the 
place,  kept  by  Dexter  Graves,  at  five  dollars  per  week.  It 
-\vas  a  log-house  near  the  middle  of  the  square,  just  north  of 
the  present  Tremont  House.  If  it  was  a  log-house  I  assure 
you  we  had  good  fare  and  a  right  merry  time  too.  There 
were  seven  beds  in  the  attic,  in  which  fourteen  of  us  slept 
that  summer,  and  I  fear  we  sometimes  disturbed  the  family 
with  our  carryings  on  o'  nights.  I  know  of  but  one  of  those 
fourteen  boarders,  besides  myself,  now  living.*  Edward  H. 
Hadduck  knows  who  slept  with  me  in  that  attic.  Hadduck 
was  a  sly  fellow  then,  for  before  one  of  us  suspected  what 
he  was  at,  he  made  sure  of  the  flower  of  that  family,  and  a 
real  gem  of  priceless  value  she  was,  who  still  survives  to 
promote  the  happiness  of  those  around  her.  Young  ladies 
were  in  demand  here  in  those  days. 

The  first  frame  tavern  ever  built  in  Chicago  was  by  Mark 
Beaubien,  upon  whose  geniality  advancing  years  seem  to 
have  no  influence.  I  am  sure  there  are  some  here  present 
who  were  then  his  guests.  There  he  kept  tavern,  to  use  his 
•own  expression  at  the  time,  like — (the  speaker  hesitated. 
A  voice — "How?")  Shall  I  say  it,  Mark?  (Mr.  Beaubien 
answered,  "Yes!")  Well,  then,  he  said  he  kept  tavern 
"like  hell!" 

To  go  back  to  that  primitive  time,  and  to  think  of  those 
who  are  gone  and  'those  who  are  left,  we  may  gratefully 
acknowledge  that  a  very  large  proportion  have  been  spared 
through  so  many  years  of  active  life.  General-  Strong  has 
recalled  the  names  of  a  number  of  the  prominent  early  set- 
tlers of  Chicago  who  have  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  your 
hospitality.  Allow  me  to  recall  the  names  of  two  who 
have  been  taken  from  the  ranks  of  my  own  profession,  and 
who  came  to  Chicago  the  same  year  with  myself — 1833. 
Their  learning  and  their  talents  would  have  made  them  con- 
spicuous at  any  bar.  All  who  knew  them  will  join  me  in 
paying  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memories  of  Giles  Spring 
and  James  H.  Collins.  Besides  these  there  were  several 
other  lawyers  established  in  Chicago  during  the  same  year, 
among  whom  I  may  mention  the  name  of  Edward  Casey,  a 

*  E.  H.  Hadduck  died  May  30,  1881.     Aged  70  years. 
3 


34  HON.   JOHN    UEAN    CATON. 

most  genial  gentlemen.  All  of  these  are  long  since  goner 
and  I  alone  am  left  to  represent  that  earliest  Chicago  Bar.'1' 

To  those  who  have  not  been  eye-witnesses,  it  seems  in- 
credible that  in  the  adult  lifetime  of  so  many  of  us  here 
present  a  city  of  half  a  million  of  inhabitants  has  grown  up 
from  nothing,  and  that  what  was  then  a  rich  wild  waste  for 
five  hundred  miles  or  more  around  has  been  subdued,  cul- 
tivated, and  populated  by  millions  of  hardy,  industrious,  and 
intelligent  agriculturists.  The  marvel  is  the  growth  of  the 
country  rather  than  the  city.  The  latter  was  compelled  by 
the  former,  and  indeed  has  never  kept  pace  with  it. 

Still,  to  those  who  have  witnessed  all  this,  it  seems  more 
like  a  dream  than  a  reality.  Many  who  have  not  witnessed 
the  growths  of  cities  and  country  in  this  Occidental  land 
can  hardly  believe  that  he  who  addresses  you  now  opened 
the  first  office  for  the  practice  of  the  law  in  Chicago.  They 
have  often  called  me  the  father  of  the  Chicago  Bar,  and 
proud  I  am  of  such  a  progeny.  In  numbers  they  are  truly 
great,  and  in  ability,  in  learning,  in  integrity,  and  in  patriot- 
ism I  will  proudly  compare  them  with  any  other  bar  in  the 
United  States.  I  have  ever  tried  so  to  bear  myself  that  no 
one  should  blush  at  the  mention  of  my  name,  and  I  most 
gratefully  acknowledge  that  they  have  always  shown  me  a 
filial  affection,  ever  treating  me  with  the  greatest  respect  and 
confidence,  omitting  no  opportunity  to  do  me  honor.  This 
is  a  consoling  reflection  and  a  sweet  experience  in  the 
decline  of  life. 

Would  time  permit,  it  would  not  be  unbecoming  in  me  to 
follow  my  friend,  who  in  your  behalf  has  extended  to  us  so 
cordial  a  welcome,  in  the  great  changes  which  have  been 
here  wrought  in  so  short  a  time— for,  remember  that  the 
period  of  orle  human  life  is  but  a  day  in  the  life  of  a  people; 
but  I  must  forbear.  Really  it  seems  like  mystery  that  what 
was  but  yesterday  a  very  little  village — for  it  seems  but  yes- 
terday that  J  was  a  very  young  man — has  today  grown  to 
be  so  great  a  city.     Sometimes  despotic  power  has  builded 

*  Here  a  question  was  raised  by  some  of  the  old-timers  as  to  whether 
Mr.  James  H.  Collins  came  in  the  year  1833,  but  Judge  Caton  settled 
it,  stating  that  he  finished  his  legal  studies  in  Mr.  Collins'  office  in  New 
York,  and  came  directly  thence  to  Chicago,  when  he  wrote  back  to  his 
former  preceptor  an  account  of  the  country,  on  the  receipt  of  which  Mr. 
Collins  made  his  arrangements  to  come  West,  and  arrived  in  Chicago 
in  September,  1833,  and  in  February  following,  Judge  Caton  entered 
into  partnership  with  Mr.  Collins,  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  constitut- 
ing the  firm  of  Collins  &  Caton. 


HON.    JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  « 

I 

cities  in  the  frozen  North  and  in  the  genial  South;  but  a 
Peter  and  a  Constantine,  with  national  resources,  could 
never  equal  the  magic  results  which  we  have  here  witnessed 
as  the  voluntary  works  of  freeborn  enterprise, — here  in  the 
temperate  zone,  where  no  ancient  civilization  had  left  its 
work.  It  lacks  but  antiquated  ruins  and  crumbling  columns 
to  persuade  the  traveler  that  he  is  in  some  great  city  of  the 
Old  World,  where  modern  architecture  has  wiped  out  many 
of  the  evidences  of  departed  grandeur  and  supplied  its 
place  with  the  improvements  of  later  times.  But  the  end 
is  not  yet.  If  we  saw  the  very  beginning,  you,  too,  have 
seen  but  the  beginning.  When  the  youngest  man  among 
you  shall  have  passed  through  the  active  scenes  which  lie 
before  him,  and  shall  feel  that  his  work  is  nearly  done,  he 
will  stand  amid  a  succeeding  generation,  and  tell  those  who 
shall  have  arisen  to  take  the  places  of  him  and  his  contem- 
poraries of  what  he  remembers  of  the  present  time  as  of  the 
beginning  of  Chicago,  or  at  least  of  its  early  youth.  Then 
our  voices  will  be  hushed,  to  be  no  more  heard  forever,  and 
may  we  not  fondly  hope  that  he  will  still  kindly  remember 
us,  and  that  we  here  lived  and  labored  before  his  time. 
So,  too,  may  we  hope  that  this  Calumet  Club  may  flourish 
those  forty  years  or  more  to  come,  and  that  its  members 
still  will  stretch  forth  the  hand  of  welcome  to  those  who 
shall  survive  from  now  to  then,  as  cordially  as  you  have 
extended  your  courtesies  to  us. 

If  we  have  talked  only  of  Chicago  and  its  progress,  we 
must  not  forget  that  Chicago  is  not  phenomenal,  but  it  is 
the  whole  great  West  that  is  phenomenal.  We  have  other 
great  cities  in  this  grand,  magnificent  valley,  whose  growth, 
whose  enterprise,  and  whose  greatness  should  equally  com- 
mand our  admiration;  many  of  whose  early  founders  are 
yet  spared  to  hear  the  expressions  of  gratitude,  and  to  re- 
ceive the  honors  which  they  so  richly  deserve.  Let  us  not 
say  that  there  is  a  rivalry  between  these  great  cities  of  the 
West;  but  there  is  a  noble  emulation  as  to  which  shall  do 
most  for  the  honor  and  the  glory  of  our  beloved  country. 

Nothing  would  be  so  agreeable  to  me  as  to  talk  to  you 
by  the  hour  of  ancient  Chicago,  when  the  wild  waters  of  the 
lake,  on  the  one  hand,  were  rarely  vexed  by  the  ships  of 
commerce,  and  the  wild  flowers  which  covered  the  broad 
prairies,  on  the  other,  were  undisturbed  by  cultivation,  and 
uncropped  by  flocks  and  herds — save  the  wild  deer  that 
roamed  at  large  over  their  broad  bosoms:  but  I  fear  you 


3&  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

will  think  I  am  becoming  a  little  senile  in  my  enthusiasm. 
Especially  do  I  like  to  talk  of  the  olden  times,  when  I  see 
around  me  so  many  of  those  old-time  friends,  with  some  of 
whom  I  have  not  clasped  hands  for  twenty  or  thirty  years. 
Here  is  my  old  friend,  Mark  Beaubien,  of  whom  I  have  so 
often  spoken — because  he  is  so  worthy  of  mention,  and  be- 
cause his  name  is  so  closely  interwoven  with  all  our  sports 
and  joyous  gatherings,  when  we  were  all  young  together. 
He  used  to  play  the  fiddle  at  our  dances,  and  he  played  it 
in  such  a  way  as  to  set  every  heel  and  toe  in  the  room  in 
active  motion.  He  would  lift  the  sluggard  from  his  seat, 
and  set  him  whirling  over  the  floor  like  mad !  If  his  play- 
ing was  less  artistic  than  Ole  Bull,  it  was  a  thousand  times 
more  inspiring  to  those  who  are  not  educated  to  a  full  ap- 
preciation of  what  would  now  create  a  furore  in  Chicago; 
but  I  will  venture  the  assertion  that  Mark's  old  fiddle  would 
bring  ten  young  men  and  women,  to  their  feet,  and  send 
them  through  the  mazes  of  the  dance,  while  they  would  sit 
quietly  through  Ole  Bull's  best  performances — pleased,  no 
doubt,  but  not  worked  up  to  such  enthusiasm  that  they 
could  not  retain  their  seats.  That  was  long  years  since; 
but  if  he  has  that  same  old  fiddle  still,  he  can,  I  doubt  not, 
draw  the  bow  now  in  such  a  way  as  to  thrill  those  at  least 
in  whom  it  will  awaken  pleasing  memories  of  days  and  nights 
when  young  blood  coursed  wildly,  and  joy  was  unrestrained. 
To  show  you  that  this  is  so,  and  how  he  did  it  then,  I  call 
on  him  to  play  some  of  those  sweet  old  tunes,  if  he  has 
that  same  old  fiddle  yet."* 

Indeed,  no  one  hesitates  to  call  upon  him  to  speak  on 
any  occasion  or  on  any  subject,  without  a  moment's  notice, 
and  he  never  fails  to  respond  in  an  interesting  and  instruct- 
ive way.  His  extensive  reading  and  great  fund  of  general 
information  always  supply  him  with  ideas,  and  his  com- 
mand of  language  enables  him  to  express  them  with  facility. 
We  may  add  of  Judge  Caton  as  an  cx-tempore  speaker,  he 
knows  when  he  is  done  and  stops. 

He  has  traveled  pretty  extensively  since  he  left  the 
Supreme  Bench.  He  has  gone  to  Europe  twice,  visiting 
England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  France,  Italy,  and  Austria 

*  Mark  Beaubien  had  not  forgotten  his  ancient  cunning,  and  taking  an 
old  violin  which  he  averred  to  be  the  one  he  handled  forty  years  before, 
struck  up  "Money  Musk,"  "The  Devil's  Dream,"  and  the  "Indian 
Solo,"  the  last  tune  bringing  out  Mr.  Guidon  S.  Hubbard,  who  went 
through  the  Indian  dance  to  the  great  admiration  of  the  company. 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  37 

on  his  first  visit,  and  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Germany, 
Switzerland,  France,  and  England  on  his  second  visit. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  his  second  European  tour  he 
published  the  result  of  his  observations  in  Scandinavia  in  a 
work  entitled  "A  Summer  in  Norway,''  which  was  received 
with  great  favor  by  both  the  press  and  the  people,  the  second 
edition  of  which  is  now  nearly  exhausted.  During  this  trip 
he  went  as  far  north  as  Hammerfest,  the  most  northerly 
town  in  the  world.  He  is  an  observant  traveler,  and  in 
this  work  gives  a  graphic  description  of  the  Lapp  and  his 
reindeer,  and  of  the  Norwegians,  their  habits  and  their 
industries,  of  their  country,  its  scenery  and  its  products,  of 
its  institutions  and  its  jurisprudence,  and  of  its  crops,  of  its 
history  as  connected  with  interesting  objects  which  came 
within  his  observation.  The  bold  mountain  scenerey  reflect- 
ing the  beams  of  the  midnight  sun,  hanging  high  in  the 
heavens,  is  spread  out  before  the  reader  in  such  vivid  colors 
that  he  sees  it  as  distinctly  as  if  he  were  standing  beside 
the  observer,  and  the  beauty  of  its  fjords — inland  seas, 
which  far  surpass  that  of  the  celebrated  inland  sea  of  Japan 
— is  described  in  a  charming  way. 

In  our  own  country  he  has  visited  all  of  the  States  and 
Territories  of  the  Union,  except  Montana  and  Idaho,  extend- 
ing his  journeyings  into  Canada,  Manitoba,  and  British 
Columbia. 

One  of  his  southern  trips  was  extended  to  Cuba.  While 
upon  this  trip  he  wrote  a  series  of  letters  to  his  neighbors 
at  home,  which  were  published  in  the  Ottawa  Free  Trader, 
and  which  are  republished  in  the  "Miscellanies"  under  the 
title  of  "Letters  From  Low  Latitudes.-'  These  letters,  four- 
teen in  number,  are  characterized  by  the  same  careful  and 
instructive  observations  and  vivid  descriptions  which  are 
found  in  his  other  similar  writings. 

One  of  these  letters  will  give  us  a  vivid  description  of 
the  condition  of  the  Chinese  in  Cuba,  and  of  slavery  there, 
and  a  graphic  account  of  the  slaughter  of  the  students, 
which  created  so  much*  comment  and  sympathy  in  this 
country : 

"At  the  best  the  Spanish  government  in  Cuba  is  scarcely 
more  than  nominal,  even  in  those  parts  of  the  island  pro- 
fessedly loyal.  The  real  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  vol- 
unteers; they  dictate  who  shall  be  appointed  their  nominal 
rulers,  but  real  servants.  Here,  then,  we  have  an  irrespon- 
sible government,  which  foreign  nations  can  not  treat  with 


38  '    HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

i 

or  hold  accountable.  While  the  volunteers  govern  in  fact, 
they  have  no  recognized  head  to  answer  for  them  in  the 
actual  influence  which  they  exert  in  governmental  affairs, 
nor  is  there  any  formal  mode  in  which  their  views  or  their 
wishes  can  be  expressed.  Their  will  is  manifested  by  the 
turbulence  alone  which  gives  the  turbulent  the  principal 
sway,  while  the  orderly  and  better  disposed,  who,  I  am  in- 
duced to  believe,  constitute  by  far  the  greatest  number, 
exert  no  influence  upon  public  affairs.  It  is  easy  to  see  how 
a  corrupt,  bad  man,  by  pandering  to  the  prejudices  and  the 
passions  of  the  wicked,  and  especially  by  the  judicious  use 
of  money,  can  erect  for  himself  almost  a  throne,  defraud  the 
government  at  home,  rob  the  people  here,  and  complacently 
smile  a  sort  of  defiance  when  kings  or  cortes  threaten  to 
call  him  to  account.  The  consequence  of  all  this  is,  that 
probably  a  more  venal  set  of  public  men  never  cursed  any 
country  than  those  that  now  prey  upon  this  fair  and  beauti- 
ful land.  The  New- York  Ring  is  washed  in  innocency  com- 
pared with  them.  Individual  fortunes  were  not  made  the 
spoil  of  the  oppressor  there,  and  a  price  was  not  set  upon 
innocent  blood.  If  suspicions  have  there  been  excited  that 
the  judiciary  was  not  immaculate,  at  least  festering  rotten- 
ness did  not  preside  in  all  courts,  nor  could  judgments  at 
all  times  be  purchased  with  a  price. 

"The  volunteers  are  not  native  Cubans,  or  Creoles,  as  they 
are  here  termed,  but  they  are  immigrants  from  Spain,  gen- 
erally of  the  middle  or  lower  class,  who  have  sought  this 
country  to  better  their  fortunes,  which  at  home  were  no 
doubt  bad  enough.  A  large  majority  of  them  are  mechanics 
and  laborers,  who  are  more  or  less  industrious,  and  very 
many  of  them  really  good  and  useful  citizens  under  all  ordi- 
nary circumstances.  Their  exact  number  is  not  known  to 
the  outside  world,  but  is  variously  stated  at  from  forty  to 
fifty  thousand.  While  all  are  organized  and  drill  at  irregu- 
lar periods  in  small  bodies,  most  of  them  are  at  their  daily 
labor,  but  with  their  uniforms  and  arms  close  at  hand,  ready 
to  be  resumed  at  a  moment's  notice.  A  limited  number, 
however,  are  in  constant  service,  garrisoning  the  barracks 
and  forts,  of  which  they  have  managed  to  get  possession; 
and  bodies  of  these  may  be  seen  marching  through  the 
streets  every  morning  at  eight  o'clock,  with  fine  bands  of 
music,  as  a  constant  reminder  to  the  people  that  they  have 
a  living  master,  much  as  I  have  seen  the  French  troops 
marching  through  the  streets  of  Paris  in  the  days  of  the 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN   CATON.  39 

Second  Empire.  These  are  for  the  most  part  young,  active, 
well-made  men,  two  inches  shorter  than  .the  average  stand- 
ard of  American  or  Englishman,  but  rather  more  stockily 
built. 

"These  volunteers  decline  to  expose  their  lungs  to  the 
malaria  of  the  rebel  districts,  or  their  precious  persons  to 
the  knives  or  clubs  of  the  rude  bands,  but  prefer  to  stay  at 
home  and  guard  the  gates.  The  actual  fighting  must  be 
done,  if  done  at  all,  by  the  regulars  sent  over  from  Spain, 
of  whom  over  seventy  thousand  have  come  since  the  war 
commenced,  but  very  few  of  whom  yet  live,  and  hardly  one 
in  a  thousand  will  ever  see  his  native  country  again.  Still 
they  come,  for  during  my  stay  another  thousand  arrived, 
.and  were  disembarked  in  a  violent  rain-storm,  as  I  observed. 
They  remained  but  two  days  in  the  city  to  stretch  them- 
selves and  get  off  their  sea-legs,  when  they  were  gallantly 
escorted  out  of  the  city  on  their  way  to  the  battle-field  by 
their  loving  brothers,  the  volunteers. 

"I  took  pains  to  inform  myself  as  fully  as  I  could,  and  I 
feel  warranted  in  saying  that  there  is  really  no  loyalty  to 
the  Spanish  Government  among  the  Creole  population  in 
.any  part  of  Cuba.  In  Havana  and  in  all  the  loyal  districts 
necessarily  these  must  constitute  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  population.  They  execrate  the  present  Government  all 
the  more  bitterly  that  they  dare  not  express  it  except  to 
those  in  whom  they  feel  sure  they  may  repose  confidence. 
Hence  it  is  that  an  American  can  learn  more  in  a  week  of 
the  feeling  of  discontent  here  than  one  of  another  nationality 
could  in  a  year,  for  they  seem  to  look  to  our  Government 
.as  their  hope  and  trust.  But  few  sympathize  with  the  pres- 
ent rebellion,  or  revolution  if  you  choose,  for  they  lack  con- 
fidence in  the  men  at  the  head  of  it;  and  as  for  the  masses, 
they  pronounce  them  more  ignorant  and  worthless  than  any 
other  population  on  the  island.  In  fine,  they  do  not  believe 
that  the  movement  will  succeed  as  a  revolution,  nor  do  they 
believe  that  the  rebellion  will  ever  be  put  down,  but  that 
this  petty,  cruel,  relentless  warfare  will  continue  an  indefinite 
length  of  time.  And  this  is  what  they  most  lament,  for 
while  the  rebellion  still  exists,  Spanish  pride  will  scorn  to 
entertain  a  thought  of  parting  with  its  even  nominal  sover- 
eignty over  the  island.  They  believe  Spain  would  be  glad 
to  get  it  off  her  hands,  could  she  do  so  without  wounding 
her  sensitiveness  of  her  honor.  Yes,  they  believe  if  the 
last  vestige  of  the  rebellion  were  extinguished  today,  as 


40  HON.   JOHN   DEAN    CATON. 

soon  as  a  little  time  had  elapsed  that  it  might  be  forgotten, 
the  island  would  fall  into  our  hands,  without  the  shedding 
of  a  drop  of  blood.  Such  are  the  sentiments  and  views  of 
the  native  Cubans,  both  in  the  city  and  country,  and  even 
in  the  far  interior,  as  I  learned  them  from  various  and  inde- 
pendent sources,  which  so  far  harmonize  as  to  win  my  con- 
fidence in  their  reliability. 

"Senor  Castanon  was  a  Spaniard,  a  colonel  among  the 
volunteers,  and  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  which  was  devoted 
to  their  interest,  and  exerted  a  great  influence  among  them. 
They  were  more  devoted  to  his  person  than  to  any  other 
living  man.  As  some  expressed  it,  he  was  their  idol.  Many 
of  the  Creoles  had  contracted  for  him  a  corresponding  hatred. 
Offence  was  given  and  a  challenge  sent,  which  was  accepted 
on  condition  that  the  affair  should  come  off  at  Key  West, 
on  the  ground  that  his  adversary  could  receive  no  protection 
in  Havana  under  the  rule  of  the  volunteers.  The  condi- 
tions were  agreed  to,  the  time  appointed,  and  the  parties, 
and  their  friends  accordingly  repaired  to  the  island.  At 
Key  West  are  gathered  quite  a  number  of  native  Cubans,, 
whose  known  sentiments  rendered  Cuba  an  unsafe  resi- 
dence. Here  they  import  Cuba  tobacco,  make  Havana 
cigars,  and  roundly  curse  the  Spanish  Government  and  all 
its  sympathizers,  and  long  for  the  time  when  Spanish  rule 
shall  be  driven  from  the  West  Indies,  and  they  may  return 
to  the  lovely  land  from  which  they  have  been  exiled.  The 
night  before  shots  were  to  be  exchanged  by  the  principals, 
Castanon  in  some  way  got  into  a  quarrel  with  a  number  of 
these  exiles  and  was  shot;  and  his  friends  believe  that  the 
whole  was  a  preconcerted  scheme  to  murder  him  in  a  for- 
eign land,  where  it  might  be  done  with  impunity.  The 
sheriff  of  Key  West,  who  related  to  me  the  particulars  of 
the  affair,  was  present  at  the  time,  and  once  succeeded  in 
quelling  the  quarrel,  but  it  was  renewed  in  spite  of  him,, 
as  if  both  parties  were  anxious  for  the  fray.  In  the  excite- 
ment of  the  crowd  it  was  impossible  to  say  who  fired  the 
fatal  shot.  All  dispersed  almost  instantly,  nor  have  those 
most  violently  suspected  *been  heard  of  since,  notwithstand- 
ing the  liberal  rewards  offered  for  their  apprehension.  Es- 
cape to  the  neighboring  keys,  and  thence  to  the  main, 
could  be  effected  with  the  utmost  facility  during  the  night, 
where  it  would  be  impossible  to  find  them.  There  was  a 
rumor  that  the  supposed  leader  had  been  seen  at  Nassau,, 
and  a  detective  was  sent  to  search  for  him,  but  he  returned 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  4 1 

empty-handed;  and  so  the'murderers  are  still  unpunished, 
which  is  much  to  be  regretted,  for  the  outspoken  sympathy 
for  the  Cubans  by  a  large  proportion  of  the  Americans  on 
the  islands  is  well  calculated  to  create  an  unfortunate  im- 
pression on  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  the  murdered  man 
was  so  dear.  I  was  told  in  Havana  that  the  man — an 
Englishman — who  first  reported  the  murder  of  Castanon 
on  shore  was  actually  torn  to  pieces,  in  their  uncontrollable 
rage,  by  the  volunteers.  The  body  was  taken  to  Havana 
and  placed  in  a  tomb  with  great  pomp  and  splendor. 

"We  had  arranged,  the  evening  before,  an  excursion  to 
Castanon's  tomb,  and  to  the  scene  of  the  atrocious  murder 
of  the  students,  so  we  all  took  an  early  breakfast,  and  by 
nine  o'clock  were  assembled  in  the  stone  hall  for  the  start. 
Mr.  Knickerbocker,  of  Chicago,  who  had  already  been  care- 
fully over  the  ground,  kindly  consented  to  act  as  our  guide. 
The  morning  was  deliciously  fresh  and  cool,  a  smart  north 
wind  coming  in  from  the  Gulf.  A  loud  hist  from  Angeleno, 
with  that  repulsive  wave  of  the  hand  peculiar  to  this  peo- 
ple, brought  up  the  cabs  with  a  rush,  and  we  were  soon  roll- 
ing over  the  pavement  toward  the  westerly  outskirts  of  the 
city.  Our  course  led  us  along  by  the  fish  market  and  near 
the  shores  of  the  Gulf,  and  some  of  the  time  through 
by-ways  and  over  most  execrable  roads,  which  tried  the 
strength  of  both  horses  and  cabs,  until  at  length  we  came 
to  a  halt  on  a  considerable  elevation,  by  the  side  of  a  high 
stone  wall  pierced  with  grated  windows  and  one  large  door. 
Here  was  the  place  where  the  boys,  charged  with  desecrat- 
ing Castanon's  tomb,  had  been  confined,  and  there,  right 
against  that  wall,  did  they  stand  when  they  were  shot. 
There  was  no  mistaking  the  place.  At  four  places,  be- 
tween the  grated  windows,  the  wall  was  newly  painted  with 
a  dull  yellow  color,  of  a  considerable  lighter  shade  than  the 
original  paint.  The  stone  wall  was  stuccoed,  and  so  pre- 
sented the  appearance  of  a  plastered  wall,  when  painted. 
That  new  paint  was  to  cover  up  and  conceal  from  view  the 
young  and  innocent  life-blood  which  had  been  spattered 
against  it,  through  the  bullet  holes,  in  the  dying  struggles 
of  the  poor  victims  to  —  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  charac- 
terize it.  If  the  blood  had  been  covered  up,  the  marks  of 
the  bullets  upon  the  walls  had  not  been  obliterated.  Yes, 
there  were  four  such  places  upon  that  prison  wall,  thus 
painted  to  cover  the  crimson  stains  and  the  indentations  of 
the  wall;  and  against  each  of  these  four  places  two  of  the 


-42  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

boys  had  stood  before  twenty  Remington  rifles,  in  the  face 
of  a  sorrowing — I  may  say  indignant — crowd,  and  were 
there  shot  down  by  those  worse  than  savage  volunteers. 
That  foul  deed  must  cause  a  great  red  blot,  not  only  in  the 
.history  of  Spanish  rule,  but  in  the  history  of  Spaniards. 
Nay,  it  is  a  blot  upon  humanity  itself,  for  it  is  the  reproach 
of  mankind  that  we  are  of  the  same  species  as  those 
wretches.  When  the  bloody  deed  was  done,  when  the  re- 
ports of  the  rifles  were  no  longer  heard,  and  all  was  still, 
save  the  dying  groans  of  the  writhing  victims  upon  the  sod, 
even  the  terror  of  the  cruel  volunteers  could  not  produce  a 
single  shout  of  applause  from  the  concourse  of  spectators; 
and  it  is  a  happy  evidence  that  there  was  something  ot 
humanity,  besides  the  form,  in  the  volunteers  themselves, 
for  of  all  the  companies  their  drawn  up,  not  one  voice  was 
raised  in  triumph  or  in  approval;  they  seemed  abashed  at 
their  own  cruelty  and  wickedness,  and  hung  their  heads  in 
very  self-disgust. 

"But  let  us  hasten  on  to  the  desecrated  tomb,  and  see  if 
I  am  right  in  calling  this  a  foul  murder,  although  perpetrated 
under  the  shadow  of  a  legal  form.  A  short  drive  brought 
us  to  the  cemetery,  where  repose  the  remains  of  the  mur- 
dered Castanon.  All  was  still,  for  it  was  an  unusual  hour 
for  visitors,  but  the  great  gates,  like  the  gates  of  a  walled 
city,  which  swung  beneath  a  lofty  arch,  were  open ;  so  we 
alighted,  traversed  the  broad  flagging  which  leads  up  from 
the  street,  and  entered.  An  attendant  seemed  to  know  in- 
stinctively what  we  had  come  to  see,  and  pointed  the  way 
•which  led  to  the  desecrated  tomb. 

"Perhaps  because  there  is  but  little  earth  upon  the  rock 
which  underlies  the  soil,  interments  are  not  in  excavated 
graves,  but  in  tombs  built  of  stone  or  brick  upon  the  surface. 
In  some  of  these  may  be  deposited  the  remains  of  one,  in 
others  many.  There  are  hundreds  of  these  tombs,  well  built 
in  a  uniform  style  of  architecture,  some  more  elaborate  and 
expensive  than  others.  They  are  in  double  rows,  back  tp 
back,  with  broad  plats  between  those  facing  each  other,  in 
which  are  roses,  or  beds  of  flowers,  and  immediately  in  front 
of  the  tombs  are  flag  walks.  Although  there  may  be  excep- 
tions, these  tombs  are  not  private  property,  but  are  rented 
out  to  those  who  have  dead  to  bury.  Their  mortality  is 
allowed  to  remain  for  twenty  years,  when  it  is  supposed  to 
have  turned  to  dust,  which  is  then  taken  out  and  burned, 
and  so  room  is  made  for  another.     It  is  said  that  over  eighty 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  43 

thousand  have  thus  been  disposed  of  in  this  one  cemetery. 

"Mr.  Knickerbocker  led  the  way  directly  to  the  narrow- 
house  which  contained  the  remains  of  the  idol  of  the  volun- 
teers of  Cuba,  that  we  might  see  the  outrage  for  which  eight 
young  lives  had  been  blotted  out,  and  a  number  of  others 
still  languish  in  chains,  and  wear  out  the  dreary  days  in 
hardest  toil  under  a  tropical  sun.  Oh,  what  must  be  the 
anguish  of  those  boys'  parents  who  but  too  tenderly  reared 
them;  when  they  lie  down  to  sleep  and  when  they  awaken 
in  the  morning,  if  indeed  they  can  even  sleep,  and  think  of 
the  situation  of  those  they  so  much  love?  Think  of  it,  you 
who  know  the  yearnings  of  parental  love,  and  you  will  not 
withhold  your  sympathy. 

"If  the  blood  had  boiled  with  indignation  when  contem- 
plating the  scene  of  the  bloody  tragedy,  we  were  fairly  struck 
dumb  when  we  saw  before  us  the  offence  for  which  the  boys 
had  suffered.  They  had  died  for  desecrating  a  tomb,  and 
we  expected  to  see  some  real  outrage — some  demolition 
which  must  shock  the  feelings  of  the  living,  and  tend  to 
bring  reproach  upon  the  memory  of  the  dead.  Now  all  was 
revealed,  and  before  our  eyes.  Three  scratches  upon  a  piece 
of  plate  glass  about  twenty  by  twenty-four  inches  in  size. 
One  scratch  was  about  fifteen  inches  long  in  a  slightly  curved 
vertical  line,  with  a  short  loop  at  the  bottom.  Another  ten 
inches  long,  commencing  near  the  top  of  the  first  and  de- 
scending in  a  curved  line  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees; 
and  the  third,  five  inches  long,  projected  from  the  upper  side 
of  the  second  and  about  three  inches  from  its  upper  end. 
This  was  also  a  curved  line  in  nearly  a  horizontal  direction, 
— and  this  was  all !  There  was  no  design,  no  idea  in  these 
marks.  Their  form  and  extent  show  that  they  were  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  marking  and  nothing  more.  It  is  said, 
however,  that  in  addition  to  this  some  filth  or  dirt  was  put 
upon  the  walls  of  the  tomb.  This  is  the  full  extent  of  the 
offending,  and  for  this  the  boys  were  shot. 

"They  were  students  in  a  college  close  by.  While  it  was 
an  act  to  be  severely  censured,  no  matter  whose  remains 
might  have  there  reposed,  in  no  other  country  since  the 
dawn  of  civilization,  would  it  have  been  considered  worthy 
of  death;  and  yet  I  met  one  man, — I  blush  that  he  ever 
learned  to  speak  the  English  language, — who,  without  pro- 
fessing to  justify  or  palliate  the  bloody  deed,  showed  in  his 
heart  a  desire  to  do  so.  'Why,'  said  he,  'suppose  the  same 
outrage  was  perpetrated  upon   the   tomb  of  Mr.   Lincoln, 


44  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

whose  memory  you  love,  and  whose  virtues  you  revere,  would 
not  your  whole  nation  cry  out  for  vengeance,  and  not  be 
appeased  until  the  blood  of  the  offender  atoned  for  the  dese- 
cration?' I  told  him,  no;  that  we  should  feel  our  sensibili- 
ties outraged,  no  doubt,  and  should  think  it  the  duty  of  their 
teachers  or  parents  to  punish  the  boys,  and  that,  perhaps, 
severely;  but  that  not  an  individual  could  be  found  through- 
out the  whole  nation  who  would  not  be  ready  to  rise  up  in 
arms  to  prevent  the  shedding  of  their  blood  for  such  an 
offence,  which,  after  all,  appeared  to  be  rather  thoughtlessness 
than  a  malicious  outrage.  'Besides/  said  I,  'after  they  had 
been  tried  and  acquitted  in  a  civil  court,  they  were  again 
seized  by  the  volunteers,  dragged  before  a  drum-head  court- 
martial  of  volunteer  officers,  where  they  were  tried,  convicted, 
and  condemned  in  defiance  of  all  legal  forms,  though  at  most 
they  were  guilty  of  but  a  civil  offence,  if  guilty  at  all,  of 
which  the  civil  tribunals  alone  had  cognizance,  and  whose 
judgment  of  acquittal  should  have  been  conclusive.' 

"  'That  all  may  be  true,'  said  he,  'but  then  there  are 
offences  for  which  the  public  sentiment  requires  the  forms 
of  civil  law  to  be  dispensed  with,  and  a  tribunal  resorted  to 
which  is  not  tied  down  by  legal  technicalities.  Whether 
this  be  such  a  case  or  not,  we  will  not  now  discuss,  but  that 
there  may  be  such  cases  I  may  refer  you  to  the  trial  and 
execution  of  Mrs.  Surrat  and  her  associates.'  I  made  no 
reply. 

"For  a  long  time  we  looked  sadly  and  silently  upon  these 
slight  marks  which  had  served  as  the  signature  of  the  death 
warrant,  the  execution  of  which  so  soon  followed,  nor  could 
we  refrain  from  picturing  to  ourselves  the  anguish  of  the 
mother  of  the  youth  whose  hand  had  traced  the  marks  with 
a  diamond  in  a  ring  which  she  had  a  few  days  before  pre- 
sented him  as  a  mark  of  her  affection,  and  an  approval  of 
his  good  conduct.  And  there,  too,  we  recalled  the  many 
anecdotes  we  had  heard  of  the  incidents  connected  with  the 
sanguinary  affair.  After  all,  sympathy  for  the  bereaved 
parents  even  dominated  over  the  feeling  of  compassion  for 
the  youths  themselves,  for  the  anguish  of  those  must  still 
continue,  while  the  sufferings  of  these  were  quickly  termi- 
nated. When  will  that  mother  forget  to  mourn  in  unspeak- 
able grief  for  her  son,  but  fourteen  years  of  age,  who,  pass- 
ing from  prison  to  the  place  of  execution,  asked  and  was 
denied  by  the  savages  the  one  final  gift  of  his  mother's  kiss 
and  blessing:? 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  45 

"I  am  prepared  to  believe  what  is  asserted  by  their  friends, 
that  this  execution  was  not  in  conformity  to  the  wishes  of  a 
large  majority  of  the  volunteers,  but  that  they  deeply  sor- 
rowed at  what  they  deemed  a  sort  of  necessity,  or  had  not 
the  courage  to  prevent, — that  there  were  among  them  a  few 
turbulent  spirits  whose  violence  ruled  the  rest,  and  whose 
cry  for  blood  silenced  the  voices  of  the  more  compassionate. 
Again,  it  had  come  to  their  ears  that  the  civil  governor,  in 
whose  hands  was  the  supreme  control  in  the  absence  of  the 
captain  general,  had  agreed  to  pardon  the  youths  in  consid- 
eration of  two  millions  of  dollars,  to  be  paid  by  their  parents, 
who  are  among  the  most  wealthy  upon  the  island,  and  that 
in  order  to  balk  him  in  this  speculation,  more  than  from  a 
real  desire  for  the  blood  of  the  victims,  they  threatened  to 
tear  him  in  pieces  if  he  attempted  to  carry  out  his  part  ot 
the  contract,  and  thus  entitle  himself  to  the  blo<3d-money. 
There  is  strong  reason  to  believe  that  such  an  arrangement 
had  been  concluded,  and  would  have  been  carried  out  by 
the  venal  governor  but  for  threats  that  he  dared  not  dis- 
regard, and  I  am  willing  to  hope  that  even  the  turbulent 
portion  of  the  volunteers  would  have  acquiesced  in  the  par- 
don had  it  not  involved  such  monstrous  corruption.  Had 
the  money  been  coming  to  themselves  instead  of  the  cor- 
rupt governor,  they  might  probably  have  been  more  placa- 
ble. The  captain  general  claims  that  he  would  have 
prevented  the  execution  had  he  been  there  at  the  time. 
Why  then  does  he  not  pardon  those  who  are  still  suffering 
imprisonment  and  chains  for  the  same  cause,  and  by  the 
sentence  of  the  same  court-martial,  composed  of  the  officers 
of  the  same  volunteers,  by  whose  will  he  is  retained  in  his 
place  in  defiance  of  the  real  wishes  of  the  home  govern- 
ment? 

';But  I  have  occupied  too  much  of  your  time  with  this 
sad  subject,  which  is  so  well  calculated  to  sound  the  deep- 
est feelings  of  the  human  heart.  We  have  lingered  too  long 
in  the  city  of  the  dead,  whose  very  atmosphere  is  now  loaded 
more  than  ever  with  sadness  and  sorrow.  Let  us  hasten 
away,  and,  if  possible,  forget  our  melancholy  in  a  visit  to  the 
Gardens  of  Acclimation,  which  are  but  a  short  mile  distant. 
I  am,  however,  too  sad  to  describe  the  bright  roses  and 
brilliant  flowers,  which  their  bloom  in  perpetual  spring,  but 
ask  you  to  sit  down  with  me,  and  for  a  moment  rest  upon 
the  rustic  seats  under  the  broad-leafed  palms,  which  in  long 
lines  border  the  walks  and  avenues.     Here  we  breathe  a 


46  HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

sweeter  fragrance,  and  would  gladly  forget  that  sickness, 
sorrow,  and  death  are  all  around  us,  and  shut  our  eyes  to 
cruelty  and  oppression  which  so  sorely  afflicts  a  land  so 
lovely." 

The  winter  of  1877-8  he  spent  in  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
where  his  usual  habit  of  careful  observations  was  continued. 
He  wrote  a  series  of  papers  on  the  agriculture  of  the  Islands, 
which  were  published  in  the  Prairie  Fanner.  His  paper 
on  the  vital  statistics  of  the  Islands  was  published  in  a 
medical  journal  in  Chicago,  and  attracted  great  attention 
at  the  time.  His  description  of  the  surf-bathing  by  the 
natives  there  is  the  only  accurate  description  of  that  won- 
derful feat  which  has  ever  been  published,  and  his  extended 
paper  on  the  volcanoes  of  the  Islands  taxed  all  his  powers 
of  description.  He  camped  a  night  on  the  rim  of  the  great 
extinct  crater  of  Haleakala,  and  enables  the  reader  to  look 
down  into  the  fearful  abyss  of  two  thousand  feet  in  depth 
and  seven  miles  across  as  if  he  stood  on  the  very  edge  and 
looked  down  with  his  own  eyes.  He  had  the  rare  good 
fortune  to  witness  a  clear  sunrise  from  that  high  perch  of 
ten  thousand  feet,  while  all  the  country  below  was  covered 
with  a  fleecy  cloud,  on  the  upper  surface  of  which  the  rays 
of  the  rising  sun  fell  with  a  brilliancy  and  a  weird  effect 
which  no  effort  of  description  could  adequately  portray. 
He  spent  a  day  in  the  crater  of  Kilanea,  in  which  he  met 
the  flowing  lava  of  an  eruption  and  also  saw  the  burning 
lake,  the  shores  of  which  were  lashed  by  billows  of  liquid 
fire.  Both  these  latter  papers  are  first  published  in  the 
•'Miscellanies." 

The  winter  of  1879-80  he  spent  in  a  visit  to  China  and 
Japan.  The  account  of  his  observations  there  have  not 
yet  been  published.  He  has  visited  the  Pacific  coast  six 
times,  coasting  all  the  way  from  San  Diego  on  the  south  to 
Victoria  on  the  north,  and  visiting  all  the  most  interesting 
points  in  the  interior,  navigated  Puget's  Sound,  and  crossed 
the  country  from  Olympia  to  Portland,  and  up  the  Columbia 
to  the  Dales.  The  Yosemite  Valley  he  twice  visited,  which 
great  wonder  he  carefully  studied,  and  three  times  he  took 
note  of  the  great  groves  of  Big  Trees. 

In  all  his  journeyings  he  has  been  accompanied  by  Mrs. 
Caton,  and  generally  by  some  other  members  of  his  family. 
Indeed  the  beneficial  effect  upon  Mrs.  Catons  health  has 
prompted  to  most  of  these  journeys,  which,  however,  have 
been  turned  to  good  account  in  other  ways  as  well. 


HON.   JOHN    DEAN    CATON.  4/ 

As  a  business  man  Judge  Caton  is  entitled  to  be  men- 
tioned as  occupying  a  high  position.  Possessing  a  high 
order  of  mechanical  genius,  his  business  enterprises  have  all 
been  more  or  less  connected  with  mechanism,  demanding 
great  organizing  capacity.  In  his  estimation  the  first  and 
indispensable  element  for  success  in  important  and  varied* 
business  enterprises  is  the  capacity  to  judge  men,  to  deter- 
mine, almost  intuitively,  what  a  man  is  capable  of  doing,  to 
select  the  right  man  for  a  given  place.  Then,  if  he  is 
capable  of  forming  wise  plans,  he  may  be  sure  of  having 
them  well  executed,  when  success  is  highly  probable.  He 
has  been  exceptionally  self-reliant.  When  he  has  once  made 
up  his  mind,  after  having  maturely  examined  a  subject,  he 
acts  upon  his  own  judgment,  unaffected  by  the  doubts  or 
misgivings  of  others.  His  telegraph  enterprise  was  under- 
taken against  the  advice  of  all  his  friends,  and  yet  he  made 
it  a  grand  success.  His  glass  factories,  his  starch  factory, 
his  large  stock  farm,  all  show  the  bent  of  his  mind  and 
tastes,  and  the  wisdom  of  his  mode  of  management.  Energy, 
sound  judgment,  self-reliance,  stability  of  purpose  and  great 
industry  are  characteristics  of  the  man,  and  constitute  the 
true  explanation  of  his  marked  success,  if  we  add  to  these  an 
unbending  integrity,  in  which  all  men  who  have  ever  come 
in  contact  with  him  have  ever  had  the  utmost  confidence. 
His  literary  and  scientific  studies  and  writings,  his  legal 
attainments  and  judicial  success,  with  his  large  and  varied 
business  enterprises,  all  testify  to  a  versatility  of  talent  and 
varied  accomplishments  rarely  found  combined  in  the  same 
person,  and  yet  with  all  this  he  is  a  man  of  leisure;  that  is, 
he  is  never  hurried  or  pressed  with  business,  always  has 
leisure  to  see  and  converse  with  a  friend  or  to  spend  an 
hour  in  social  intercourse  in  the  quiet  of  his  family  circle. 
His  disposition  is  of  the  most  equable  and  uniform  char- 
acter, slow  to  anger  and  ready  to  forgive  when  ■  forgiveness 
is  merited.  Indeed,  he  claims  to  have  been  mad  but  three 
times  in  his  life,  but  then  he  was  pretty  mad. 

In  his  domestic  relations  he  has  been  singularly  fortunate 
and  happy.  During  their  conjugal  life  of  more  than  forty- 
five  years,  it  is  their  boast  that  not  a  cross  word  has  ever 
passed  between  him  and  his  wife. 

For  several  years  past  Judge  Caton  has  spent  his  winters 
with  his  family  in  Chicago,  where  he  has  a  home,  although 
his  residence  is  still  in  Ottawa,  where  he  has  made  manv 
improvements  to  his  house  and  grounds.     He  has  always 


48  HON.    JOHN    DEAN    CATON. 

had  a  large  circle  of  friends  in  Chicago,  whose  manifesta- 
tions of  respect  render  his  associations  there  very  agreeable ; 
and  all  his  children  being  settled  there  adds  much  to  the 
ligaments  which  bind  him  to  his  old  home,  where  first  he 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession,  forty-nine  years 
^ago ;  when  there  were  not  two  hundred  and  fifty  people  in 
the  little  village.  All  now  living  who  were  here  then  can 
be  counted  upon  one's  fingers. 

If  a  life  of  industry  has  also  been  a  life  of  usefulness 
(and  he  has  succeeded  in  earning  and  securing  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  those  who  know  him  well),  then  has  he 
accomplished  the  object  of  a  life-long  effort,  and  may  hope 
to  leave  a  legacy  to  his  children  which  they  will  value 
above  price. 

After  all,  he  looks  upon  his  career  as  a  jurist  with  the 
greatest  satisfaction,  and  relies  upon  it  to  secure  him  his 
most  enduring  fame.  When  this  shall  be  reviewed  and 
illustrated  by  some  competent  member  of  the  profession, 
the  services  which  he  has  rendered  the  State  in  his  official 
life  may  be  fully  understood,  but  not  till  then. 


710-3 6T 


FERGUS  PRINTING  COMPANY,   CHICAGO. 


DATE  DUE 


NOV  0 

9  2006 

UIC  Re 

e'd  auu  ( 

)  8  201)6 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

3  8198  306  338  573 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  AT  CHICAGO 


9* 


Fergus,  R 


Biographical  Sketch  of 
John  Dean  Caton 


